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HOME MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE FROM ELECTRONIC ARTS 



Ifyou 



Cut a Pasta. 




can learn to use this word processor 
in 90 seconds, can it really be any good? 




CUT & PASTE™ displays its commands on a single line at the bottom of the screen. This 
makes working with it easier and also gives you more usable space on the screen. 



Of all word processors on the 
market today, Cut & Paste may 
well be the easiest to use. In 
fact, by the time you finish reading this 
section of the ad, you'll know how 
to work with Cut ck Paste. So read on. 
START TYPING. Working with Cut 
ck Paste is like working with a type- 
writer. If you know how to use a type- 
writer, you already know how to type 
in your draft with Cut ck Paste. The 
only real difference is, with Cut & 
Paste it's easier to correct typos. 
MAKING CHANGES. Let's say 
you've decided to make a cut in your 
rough draft. To do this you put the 
cursor (the bright block) at the start 
of the text you want to delete, and 



stretch it through to the end of your 
cut. Then you send the cursor down to 
the "CUT" command on the bottom 
of the screen. Done. 

If, on the other hand, you want 
to keep that line, but put it in a differ- 
ent part of your draft, you use the 
"PASTE" command. You mark the 
point of insert with the cursor. Then 
you put the cursor over "PASTE." 
That's all there is to it. 
PRINTING IT OUT. When you 
like the way your work looks, you print 
it. Put the cursor on the "PRINT" 
command. Then set your margins, in 
inches. That's it. 

You now know how to use Cut 
ck Paste. 



OKAY, IT'S SIMPLE. BUT HOW 
GOOD IS IT? Cut & Paste has all 
the features you'll ever need to use 
at home. Here are a few of them: 

1. Scrolling dynamic menus 

2. Automatic word wrap 

3. Simple cut ck paste editing 
4- Block indenting 

5. Set margins and paper size in 
inches 

6. Tabs 

7. Automatic page numbering 

8. Controllable page breaks 

9. Headings 

10. Scrolling text windows 

11. Automatic widow and orphan 
control 

12. Clear and concise manual 
In other words, Cut ck Paste 

will do just about everything other 
word processors do. But Cut ck Paste 
will do it more easily. Without com- 
plex commands and modes. 

If you think about a word proc- 
essor in terms of what it replaces (type- 
writers, pens and paper, files), Cut & 
Paste begins to look very good indeed. 

And when you consider that all this 
power can be had for approximately 
$50, we think you'll see why we believe 
Cut ck Paste is something of an 
achievement. 

A PHILOSOPHY OF DESIGN. 

The people who designed, devel- 
oped and programmed Cut ck Paste 
have some fairly heavy credentials. 

They are people who worked on 
the internationally-famous user inter- 
face designs that led to the Xerox Star* 
and Apple's Lisa 8 They are also 





THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD. Until quite recently we used pens and paper 
and typewriters to write with, mostly because we knew how to use them. They have been good 
tools, but limited. You tend to make messes when you work with them, and getting rid of those 
messes makes extra work. Cut & Paste is an inexpensive and practical alternative. Because it is as 
easy to use as a typewriter, you really will use it. Which may make it the first sensible word processor 
for the home. Thus an alleged labor-saving device has come to a position where it really can save a 
significant amount of labor, i.e., yours. 




THE MEN WHO MADE CUT & 

PASTE. The Linotype machine pictured here 
was the 19th century's most important contri- 
bution to word processing technology. It let 
typesetters compose and rearrange text in the 
form of metal castings. The importance of Cut 
& Paste, of course, must await the judgment 
of history. Nevertheless, the seven men who de- 
veloped it look confident here. Standing left to 
right, they are-. Norm Lane, Steve Shaw, David 
Maynard, Dan Silva, Steve Hayes and ferry 
Morrison. Seated at the console is Tim Mott, 
whose idea this was in the first place. 

people who have in common a very 
lucid philosophy of design. 

Computers and the programs they 
run are tools, they believe. Tools are 
never noticed unless they are bad tools. 
When they're good, they become, in 
effect, invisible. And if you want to 
make a good tool— an invisible tool— 



you'd best study the way people use 
the tools they already have. 

As a result of this thinking, Cut ck 
Paste was designed to work much in 
the same way that you already work 
with a typewriter or with pen and 
paper. The most complex and power- 
ful parts of the program are hidden 
from view. The work they do takes 
place deep in the machine. All you get 
to see are the results. 

But beyond that, there is something 
almost indefinable about a good de- 
sign. Things about it just seem to work 
crisply. Little touches and features 
that you notice make you want to smile. 
If it's really good, 
it feels good. 

Cut & Paste 
feels good. Electronic Arts 



THE PRODUCTS of Electronic Arts can 
be found in your favorite computer stores, soft- 
ware centers, and in leading department stores 
throughout the country. Both Cut & Paste 
and Financial Cookbook are now available 
at a suggested retail price of $50 for the Apple 
lie and the Commodore 64 and will soon be 
available for the IBM -PC and Atari . 




OUR COMMITMENT TO 
HOME MANAGEMENT. 

Cut &. Paste is just one of a growing 
number of products we're publishing 
within the category of "home manage- 
ment software." These products are all 
built around the same program archi- 
tecture, making them all equally "friend- 
ly," as well as remarkably straightfor- 
ward and practical. We believe that 
designs like these will soon make home 
computers as functional and efficient as 
today's basic appliances. 

Our next product in this line is called 
Financial Cookbook. It's a realistic alterna- 
tive to the complex, pre-programmed fi- 
nancial calculators we all wish we knew 
how to use. With a few, simple keystrokes, 
Financial Cookbook lets you make more 
than 30 key time-value-of-money 
computations— just about all the ones 
you'd ever use for personal finances— 
like calculating 
mortgages with 
changing inter- 
est rates, com- 
pounding the 
interest on IRA 
and savings ac- 
counts, and buy- 
versus - lease 
comparisons for 
automobile pur- 
chases. 

To find out more about these home 
management products and about what 
we have planned for the future, call or 
write: Electronic Arts, 2755 Campus 
Drive, San Mateo, CA 94403 (415) 
571-7171. 




Apple and Lisa are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Jnc. Star is a registered trademark of the Xerox Corporation. Commodore 64 is a registered trademark of Commodore Business Machines, Inc. PC is a registered 
trademark of International Business Machines, Jnc Atari is a registered trademark of Atari, Inc., a Warner Communications company. 



Softly Comment 

Softalk takes the stand with opinion 
and commentary: the confusing 
state of computer talk, in praise of 
DOS, simplifying dBase II, 
overworked computerholics, priming 
your original computer 



28 



Exec Apple Computer International: 
Chez Paris 

Mike Spindler, Henri Aebischer, Bob 
Kissach, and a lively group of 
Europeans prove Apple can have a 
foreign affair. 

DAVID HUNTER 40 



The Elfin lie: Light, Tiny, and Sweet 

The new Apple He is portable 
paradise. Here 's an introductory 
look at the (c)ompact II, plus the 
inside story of the He's European 
introduction. 

MARGOT COMSTOCK 
TOMMERVIK 56 

Special Section: Apples All 

Over the World 100 



Apples Down Under 
JOHN MACGIBBON 



102 




DEPARTMENTS 



Advertiser's Index Opposite Page 

Debut: The Basic Solution, by Roger Wagner 

The Earl of Assembly becomes Lord of Basic 79 

Beginners' Corner, by Matt Yuen 

Computers and education 69 

Bestsellers 201 

Contest: Gravy-Boat Diplomacy 

Reseat fussy professors at a dinner party 4 

Contest Winners 

Results of February 's Phonies contest 6 

DOStalk, by Tom Weishaar 

Inside look at text files with type 1 64 

Fastalk 

A quick guide to new and classic releases 1 85 

Follow the Floating Point, by David Durkee 

Introduction to hi-res graphics 1 40 

Keys to the World, by Matt Yuen 

Telecommuting: working on a phone line 1 69 



Mac 'n' Lisa, by Kevin Goldstein 

Junking Jr., more on modems, Mac books 151 

Marketalk News 

Announcing new products and services 91 

Marketalk Reviews 129 

Mind Your Business, by Peter Olivieri 

Selecting a modem, business graphics, III stuff 51 

Open Discussion 

Blossoming letters: questions, answers, opinions 11 

The Pascal Path, by Jim Merritt 

Pointers about pointers 61 

Schoolhouse Apple, by Carol Ray 

Telelearning 's Electronic University, 

and a Logo tutorial by Donna Bearden 83 

SoftCard Symposium, by Greg Tibbetts 

BDOS's file-related disk functions 153 

Tradetalk 

Industry news: West Coast Faire report 72 



Personal Computing in the Old 
World 

DAVID HUNTER 110 



Apples in Germany 
EDEN RECOR . 



Apples in Tunisia 

ANDREW CHRISTIE 

Apples in Canada 
DON OFFICER .... 



116 

120 
124 



Selling Software from 
Sicily to Sydney 

Separating the anomaly from the 
product: marketing software 
overseas put in perspective. 

GARY CARLSTON 



144 




Newspeak 

Computers are making the world 
smaller: Paris-based World 
Computer Center, high-flying satel- 
lite rescue system, high-tech sushi 
shops. 

Edited by DAVID HUNTER 



175 



M E V I L W S 



Jumpin' June Flash . . . Exec Sweet 
Micro Systems . . . Apple-Controlled 
Windmills in Altamont Pass . . . Racing 
Catamarans . . . and more! ... 




i n 

A D V E 



Abbee Systems 201 

A B Computers 134 

Accent Software 128 

Action-Research 

Northwest 96 

Advanced Business 

Computing 50 

Alf Copy Service 188 

Apple Computer 113 

Applied Engineering ... 75 

Artemis Systems 196 

Artie Technologies 166 

Atari 39 

BASF 21 

Baudville 16 

Beagle Bros 148-149 

Bluebush 66 

Blue Ridge Software ...74 
Borland International . . 62 
The Boston Company . . 158 
The Brady Communication 

Company 115 

Business Solutions 5 

Central Valley 

Electronics 194 

Chemical Bank 37 

Classified Ads 22-27 

Computer Outlet 163 

Computer Tax Service . . 52 

Conroy-LaPointe 189 

Continental Software . . 107 
Counterpoint Software 204 
Creative Computer 

Peripherals 193 

Creative Computer 

Products 181 

Davidson & Associates . . 87 
Decision Support 

Software 119 

Deluxe Computer 

Forms 20 

Dennison Computer 

Supplies 123 

Digital Research .... 88-89 

Diskazine 43 

Electronic Arts . . Cover 2-1 
ERIC Software 

Publishing 191 

Falcon Safety 

Products 170 

FMJ 156 

FoggWare 155 

Garden of Eden 

Computers 192 

Gourmet Software 162 

Gray Matter Ltd 71 

Hayes Microcomputer . 168 
Hollister MicroSystems . 14 

Howard Software 200 

Howard W. Sams 90 

Human Systems 

Dynamics 198 

Inmac 160 

Insoft 183 

Interactive Microware . 133 
Interactive Structures . . 97 
Jade Computer 

Products 197 

Kensington 

Microware 127,143 

Koala Technologies 7 

The Learning Company . 82 

Magnum Software 95 

MECA 130 



D 



E X 
T 



O F 
S E 



Megahaus 47 

Microcom 98-99 

Microcomputer 

Accessories 53 

Micropro 78 

Microsoft 48-49,63 

MicroSPARC 205 

MICRO-vision 178 

Micro Ware 139 

Midwest Data Source ... 84 
The National Software 

Exchange 186 

Nibble Notch 67 

Orange Micro 199 

Origin Systems 195 

Owlcat/Digital 

Research 172-173 



Sinequanon 180 

Sir-tech Cover 3 

SJB Distributors 86 

Softalk 18,97,184,202 

Softdisk 55 

Softronics 138 

Southern California 

Research Group .... 150 
Spectrum Software .... 132 

Spies Laboratories 38 

Spinnaker 8-9 

Standard and Poor's ... 34 

Stoneware 137 

Strategic Simulations . . 177 

Strictly Soft Ware 76 

SubLogic 81 

Sundex Software 18 




On Our Cover: Among spring fashions and blos- 
soms, Apples are part of the Parisian scene. The 
French and a growing number of international 
computerists are making the Apple a worldwide 
phenomenon. Photo by David Hunter. 



Pacific Exchanges 187 

Penguin Software . . . 12-13 
Personal Computer 

Products 65 

Practical 

Peripherals . . . 45,60,203 

Programs Plus 157 

Psychological Psoftware 142 

Quality Software 207 

Quark 10 

Quinsept 171 

Rainbow Computing . . 182 

Reston 15 

Rising Sun Software . . . 147 

Satori Software 54 

Sensible Software 77 

Shenandoah Software . 135 
Sierra On-Line . . . Cover 4 



Superior Software 19 

Sweet Micro 

Systems 108-109 

Synetix 93 

Terrapin 85 

Texprint 152 

Thunderware 17 

Titan Data Systems 80 

Turning Point 

Software 174 

Videx 131 

Virtual Combinatics 68 

Vufax 136 

Roger Wagner 

Publishing 206 

John Wiley & Sons 46 

Xerox Education 

Publications 31,33 



4 



Chairman 


John Haller 


Publisher 


Al Tommervik 


Editor 


Margot Comstock Tommervik 


Art Director 


Kurt A Wahlner 


Editorial 




Senior Edit) if 


David Hunter 


Managing Editor 


Three Tyler 


Assislanl Mjnjjiin^ Eulitor 


Carol Ray 


Associate Editors 


Jean Varven 




David Durkec 


Reviews, Telecom 


Matthew T Yuen 


Special Assignments 


Andrew Christie 


Features, News, Trade 


Michael Ferris 


If, Then. Maybe 


Tommy Gear 


Hardware 


Jock Root 


Letters 


Todd Zilbert 


Regional Editor, East Coast 


Roe Adams 


Market Research 


Lanny Broyles 


Copy 


Cordell Cooper 




Judith Pfeffcr 


Subinissu >ns 


Betsv Barnes 


Proofreading 


Harry McNeil 




Judith Pfeffer 




Steve Thomsen 




Ron Williams 


Word Processing 


Brcnda Johnson 


Contributing Editors 




Pascal 


Jim Merriti 


Business 


Peter Ohvien 


Apple CP/M 


Cireg FibbcttS 


Investing 


Kenneth Land is 


DOS 


Tom Weishaar 


Graphics 


Bill Budge 


Printers 


Bill Parker 


32 Bits 


Kevin Goldstein 


Softalk Suites 


Doug Carls ton 




Bob Clardy 




Roy Hicks 




John Jeppson 




Mark Pelczarski 




Joe Shelton 




Roger Wagnef 


Art 




Production Manager 


Donald J. Robertson 


Assistant Art Director 


Lucas McClure 


Ad Production 


Michael G Pender 


Assistant Production Manager 


Nancy Baldwin 


Assistants 


Weldon 0, Lewin 




Ruth Seid 




Dan Winkler 


Business 




Associate Publisher 


Mary Sue Rennells 


Operations 


Marjone Kaufman 


Advance Projects 


Steve Shendelman 


Director of Finance 


Chan Hilario 


Controller 


Duane Runyon 


Accounting Assistant 


Donna Flushman 


Advertising 




Coordinator 


Linda McGuire Carter 


Assistant 


Cathy Stewart 


West Coast Sales 


Randie James 




Softalk 




7250 Laurel Canyon Blvd 




North Hollywood, CA 91605 




(818) 980-5074 


East Coast Sales 


Ian Ross 




Paul Met (nuns 




Advertising Sales 




690 Broadway 




Massapequa. NY 11758 




(212) 490-1021 


Midwest and 




Rocky Mountain SaJes 


Ted Rickard 


Bill Chalifaux 




Kevin Sullivan 




Market/Media Associates 




435 Locust Road 




Wilmette, IL 60091 




(312) 251-2541 


Circulation 




Customer Service 


Marsha Stewart 


Trial Subscriptions 


Deirdre Galen 


Cliff Martinez 




Anna Gusland 




Tcrez Carroll 




Ramona Gordon 




Joe Bellinger 


Paid Subscriptions 


Michelle Vigncaull- 




Kirschenbaum 




Leticia Garcia 




Jan Godoy-Aguiar 




Barbara Naimoli 




Josie Walley 


Dealer Sales 


Lashca Lowe 




Dan Yoder 


Systems 


John Heitmann 



Credits: Composition by Photographies, Hollywood, California 
Printing by Volkmuth Printers, Saint Cloud, Minnesota. 

Apple, Applesoft. Macintosh, and Lisa are registered trademarks of 
Apple Computer Inc., Cupertino. California UCSD Pascal is a 
trademark of the University of California at San Diego SoftCard is a 
trademark of Microsoft, Bellevue, Washington Sofialk is a trademark 
of Softalk Publishing Inc.. North Hollywood. California. 

Softalk. Volume 4, Number 9. Copyright © 1984 by Softalk 
Publishing Inc. All rights reserved. ISSN:0274 -9629. Softalk is pub- 
lished monthly by Softalk Publishing Inc.. 7250 Laurel Canyon 
Boulevard, North Hollywood, California; telephone (818) 980-5074. 
Second-class postage paid at North Hollywood, California, and addi- 
tional mailing offices. 

Postmaster: Send address changes to Softalk. Box 7039. North 
Hollywood, CA 91605. 

Advertising: Send ad material to Linda McGuire Carter, Softalk, 
7250 Laurel Canyon Boulevard, North Hollywood, CA 91605. 

Free Subscriptions: Complimentary six-month subscriptions to all 
owners of 6502 Apple computers in the USA and Canada. If you own an 
Apple but you've never received Softalk, send your name, address, and 
Apple serial number with a request for subscription to Softalk Circula- 
tion. Box 7039. North Hollywood. CA 91605 Please allow six to eight 
weeks for processing. Softalk is totally independent of Apple Computer 
Inc.; sending your warranty card to Apple Computer will not inform 
Softalk of your existence 

Paid Subscriptions: $24 per year At the end of trial period, each 
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tinue receiving Softalk. Lack of response will be taken as your choice to 
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Please allow six to eight weeks for processing. 

Back Issues: $2 through February 1981. $2 50 through July 1981 
$3.50 through September 1982, $4,00 thereafter. November and De 
cember 1980, January, February, March. September, October, and 
November 1981, and December 1982 are sold out. December 1981. 
February and May 1982. and February and December 1983 arc in short 
supply. 

Problems? If you haven't received your Softalk by die fifteenth of 
the month, or if you have other problems with your subscription, Mar- 
sha Stewart can help out Call (818) 980-5074 or (800) 821-6231. 

Moving? Send new address and a label from a recent Softalk to Sof- 
talk Circulation. Box 7039. North Hollywood. CA 91605, telephone 
(818) 980-5074. Please allow six to eight weeks for processing. 



CONTEST: 

Gravy- Boat 
Diplomacy 




Have you been yearning to get out of the 
house and see the world? Well, here's the 
chance of a lifetime — we're giving you an am- 
bassadorial post! Congratulations, and may you 
serve your country well. As of today, you are 
the ambassador to Albania. Your first official 
duty is hosting a dinner party for the faculty of 
the International Academy of Computer Arts 
and Sciences, which convenes in Albania for 
two weeks each May. 

An hour before the guests arrive, your aide 
confesses that he has lost the seating arrange- 
ments for the evening. Fine, you say, just seat 
them boy-girl-boy -girl. Your aide pales and 
tells you that it isn't that easy— you have to con- 
sider protocol. First, many faculty members are 
bringing their spouses, and protocol says that no 
one may sit across from his or her spouse. Sec- 
ond, to facilitate conversation, each person 
must sit across the table from a person who 
knows a common human spoken language. And 
third, no man may sit next to another man. 

You must reseat the guests. The table is rec- 
tangular, there are sixteen places, and no one 
sits at the head or the foot. Also, the four per- 
sons sitting at the ends can be considered to sit 
next to only one person. The protocol and the 
information you have from the dossier on each 
guest are your only means to make arrange- 
ments that will keep each guest happy. 

The Professor from Albania 
The Professor from Brazil 
The Professor from Czechoslovakia 
The Professor from Egypt 



The Professor from Finland 
The Professor from France 
The Professor from Germany 
The Professor from Mexico 
The Professor from Nepal 
The Professor from Portugal 

They all will attend. Seven of the professors 
will be accompanied by their spouses. Including 
yourself, sixteen people will attend. 

You have a bit more information in the dos- 
siers in your diplomatic pouch. You know that 
each person knows the language of his or her 
native country. You also know that each person 
knows the same language as his or her spouse. 
Each of the professors is of the same nationality 
as his or her spouse, except for two. 

For security reasons, you must sit between 
the professors of Czechoslovakia and Finland. 

The professor of Floating Point Basic will 
not sit next to or across from the professor of 
Integer Basic. The professor of Pascal will not 
sit next to or across from either of them. 

The spouse of the professor from France is 
jealous and must sit next to the professor — and 
furthermore will not let the professor sit across 
from a person of the opposite sex. 

The spouse of the professor from Brazil and 
the spouse of the professor from Albania are 
best friends and like to sit across from one an- 
other. 

Four professors do not know Albanian. 
Four spouses do not know Albanian. 
The professor from Portugal knows Italian. 
The professors of Assembly Language, 



The new breed of integrated software that's Jack2. 



(Press SPACEBAR to continue, R to replay, )| 





Sales Commission Statement for September 



Dear Ralphj 



Your sales for this period were 
$1821 as shown below. Based on your 
fine performance I am pleased to 
make you a member of the President's 
club. 



Sales - A 
Sales - B 

Total 
YTD 



Jun 


Jul 


Aug 


Sep 


134 


112 


245 


243 


43 


45 


120 


79 


177 


157 


365 


322 


177 


334 


699 


1621 



Jun Jul Aug Sep 

Commission Calculation: 
Sy. items: 5185 
iy. bonus: 1821 

Total: $ 6126 




JACK2.THE BEST PC INTEGRATED SOFTWARE 
YOU CAN FIND. NOW YOURS ON THE APPLE lie. 



With JACK2, you can do word processing, spread- 
sheets, data base management, charting. All at the 
same time. On the same screen. Without changing 
diskettes or exiting programs. 

And, you can print out what's on your 
screen - text, calculations, and graphs - on 
the same page. What you see is what you get! 

No need for windows. Additional monitors 
or hardware of any kind. No need to close one 
file before you open another. JACK2 is as 
easy to master as it is powerful to use. 

Picture a screen that graphically 
displays your disks and names them. 
With envelope icons that can be 
scrolled up or down from 1 to 50 
showing you all your files. JACK2 
will even show you the forms 



inside your envelopes. And then let you choose the 
one you're looking for simply by pointing to it. All 
commands are in English. All are displayed on 
a single line and all have the same function 
throughout JACK2. 

So, if you've been searching for a new 
breed of integrated software, you've found 
it. From word processing, to spreadsheets, 
to data base management and charting only 
JACK2 will let you do everything you've 
always wanted to do. On the same _____ 
screen. At the same time. 



JACK2 is available for the Apple 
He with extended memory, 
80-column card (total of 128k) 
and two Apple disk drives. 



Jack2 



Business Solutions, inc. 
J 60 East Main Street, KingsPark, NY 11754 -(516) 269-1120 




6 

Microcomputing, Fortran, and Robotics are 
women. 

The professor of Floating Point Basic knows 
English. 

The professor of Robotics knows French. 

The professor of Assembly Language is the 
only professor who knows Spanish. 

The professor of Logo sits across from the 
spouse of the professor from Finland. 

You know only English, and you are the 
only person who knows only one language. 

Only two people know more than two 
languages. 

The professor from Nepal prefers to sit be- 
tween the spouse of the professor from Finland 
and the spouse of the professor from Mexico. 

The professor from Egypt is married and 
likes to sit next to his spouse, who likes to sit 
across from the professor of Fortran. 

As the ambassador, you must sit on the right 
side of the table. 

The professor from Czechoslovakia knows 
neither English nor Albanian. 

Four of the conversations across the table 
will be carried out in Albanian. 

None of the conversations across the table 
will be carried out in German or Arabic. 

The professor from Germany knows Arabic. 



February's Phonies contest was one that 
should have satisfied all those contest fanatics 
who have been crying, "Harder contests!" for 
the past few months. 

Everybody solved some of the puzzles, most 
contestants solved most of them, and a few got 
them all correct. From the few perfect entries 
arose one entry screaming, "Hey, I wanna win, 
I wanna win!" The sight of a piece of paper 
screaming like a lunatic caused everyone in 
the room to run away, thinking the building 
was haunted. When they came back, one in- 
trepid staff member picked up the entry, which 
was hopping around the room, beating up the 
other entries. 

It belonged to Terry Treadaway (Marshall, 
AR), who still hasn't decided what he'll spend 
$200 on. "We just finished doing our Navajo 
celebration dance, and we're fighting over what 
to get." Treadaway was last reported to be eye- 
ing New York City to see if it's on sale, but 
he'll probably settle for Hayden's Sargon III, 
Micro Fun's Dino Eggs, some Strategic Simula- 
tions games, and a Sweet Micro Systems Mock- 
ingboard, which he'll pick up at Computers Etc. 
in Little Rock. 

Paul Lennon and John McCartney. Al- 
most everyone was able to figure out whose 
phone numbers were listed in the first part. 
However, 532-5464 caused a problem. It was 
amazing how many people figured out that the 
number spelled (Zork coauthor) Lebling but 
tacked on the first names of Marc and Mark in- 
stead of Dave. Neither Marc Lebling nor Dave 
Blank could be reached for comment. The only 
person who could be reached was Steve Woz- 
niak, who had this to say about people who 
often get his and Steve Jobs's first names mixed 
up: "I never really noticed it before, but now 
it's got me steamed." 



Hmn] i 

The professor of one of the Basics is from 
France. 

The professor of Cobol knows German and 
Albanian and is a married man. 

The professor of Pascal knows Portuguese. 

The professor of Logo, the professor of For- 
tran, and the professor of Microcomputing all 
know Albanian. 

The professor of Microcomputing knows 
German. 

The professor of Artificial Intelligence is a 
widower and knows Italian. 

The professor of Integer Basic is from 
Finland. 

No one who knows French knows Albanian, 
and no one who knows French will sit next to 
anyone who knows Portuguese. 

Decide where your guests are to be seated, 
their gender, in what language they will con- 
verse with the person across from them, and the 
discipline of each professor. Then write it all 
down and send it to Embassytalk, Box 7039, 
North Hollywood, CA 91605. Those who get it 
all correct will advance to the most diplomatic 
random number generator for a shot (heard 
'round the world) at prizes befitting their sta- 
tion. And pass the peas. m 



The real confusion began when contestants 
moved on to part two. Some took the liberty of 
changing T.G. Products founder Ted Gillam's 
last name to fit their answers: 445-5426 (Gil- 
liam), 445-5267 (Gillams), and 445-5486 (Gil- 
lium). Of course, the correct answer was none 
of these. 

There was the anonymous phone caller, who 
called Softalk one March afternoon. Here's 
what happened: 

"Hello?" 

"Uh, yeah . . . um, am I on the air?" 
"This is a magazine, not a radio station." 
"Oh. Oh yeah, right. Um, I had a question 
about the contest." 
"Okay." 

"What's so hard about part one? Can't I just 
call up those numbers and see who answers?" 
"You could." 

"So what's so hard about it?" 

"What area code are you going to use?" 

Pause 

"Oh." 

"Uh-huh." 

"Bye." 

"Bye." 

Intelligently, the caller remained anonymous. 

More people put a big fat zero in answer to 
number ten on part two, which asked for the 
number to call the operator. Cute. Really cute. 
In fact, the contest staff just couldn't resist all 
that cuteness going on at once, so they decided 
to allow it as a correct answer, in addition to 
846-3267 (Timecor), the actual answer. 

Yes, Virginia, there is a Synoptic Software. 
Yes, it is a real company. No, it wasn't a trick. 
Doesn't anyone remember a program called 
Ana-Lisfi It was reviewed in November 1983. It 
appeared in the Softalk reviews index in Feb- 
ruary 1984— the issue the contest appeared in— 



MAY 1984 



on page 215. Shame on everybody who wrote 
and said that there's no such thing as Synoptic. 

Contest InvisiPrize of the Month goes to 
Dawne E. Holtz (Izmir, Turkey), whose perfect 
contest entry was created under less than perfect 
circumstances. "Phones are a rarity here in 
Turkey. But if I win, I'd like dinner with Bert 
Kersey at a restaurant of my choice in my city 
of residence." 

Dear Contestmeister. And now, the con- 
testmeister answers some letters. 

To Jim Taylor (Orem, UT): Don't worry, 
we accepted your entry, even though it was a 
day late. But please tell your wife that the next 
time she has a craving for Kentucky Fried 
Chicken she had better resist. Limbs of dead 
chickens disgust us. If she feels that strongly 
about eating birds, send her to get some 
Chicken McNuggets, but only if she can name 
the parts of a chicken that look like nuggets. 

To Mamie Penning and Lisa Hollis (Talla- 
hassee, FL): We're sorry you caught a cold 
while working on this contest, Mamie. But 
we're also very flattered that you preferred 
reading Softalk to visiting the Smithsonian, the 
White House, and the Capitol Building while 
you were vacationing in Washington. Thank 
you, Lisa, for warning us about Mamie, the fat 
moose, and the elephant. (Readers can interpret 
the last sentence as they wish.) 

To Donna Harris (Tulsa, OK): Sorry you 
didn't win. Tell your husband that you did, and 
let him pick out a prize. Let him pay for it, too. 

To Bunny Hottenstein (Hershey, PA): No, 
even though you live in Chocolatetown, and 
even though it was so close to Easter, it 
wouldn't have helped you win if you'd changed 
your name to //oppenstein. 

The Real Phonies. Here are the answers to 
the first part of the Phonies contest. 

796-3849, Synetix 

274-8474, (Lord) British 

532-5464, (Dave) Lebling 

736-4846, Penguin (Software) 

747-8324, Sir-tech (Software) 

728-5539, (John) Sculley 

746-3649, Phoenix (Software) 

468-7638, Gourmet (Software) 

463-6266, Infocom 

227-7439, (Jack) Cassidy 

278-9425, (Bruce) Artwick 
Here are the answers to the second part. 

Bill Budge: 746-2255 (pinball) or 283-4326 
(BudgeCo) 

Einstein: 266-7453 (compile, Einstein 
Compiler), 466-3769 (Goodrow, 
coauthor of Einstein Compiler), or 
872-4637 (trainer, Einstein Memory 
Trainer). 

T.G. Products: 723-3537 (paddles) 
Synoptic Software: 262-5478 {Ana-List) 
Software Publishing Corporation: 737-3453 

(PFS: File) 
Data Transforms: 366-8719 (Fontrix) 
John Besnard: 736-7283 (Pensate) 
Bert Kersey: 367-2677 (DOS Boss), 

884-5489 (utility), 847-3475 (Tip Disk) 
Michael Berlyn: 463-4335 (Infidel), 

668-6767 (Oo-Topos) 
Operator: 846-3267 (Timecor, which 

manufactures the Operator modem), 0 

(operator) Hi 



CONTEST WINNERS 



Now. . . Draw On Your Imagination 







Introducing The Gibson Light Pen System™ 

The link between mind and machine has arrived. Suddenly you're f ree. . .free 
to translate your every thought into professional quality computer graphics... 
just by touching your screen. 

The Gibson Light Pen System software features icon menus that offer easy 
access to powerful graphics tools such as symbol libraries, geometric shapes, 
mirror-imaging, magnification and complete color and pattern editing. Even 
if you're not a graphic artist, you can design, diagram and draw with precision 
at high-speed, in high-resolution, and in full-color. . . right on your screen. 

COMPLETE WITH FIVE SOFTWARE SYSTEMS TO MAXIMIZE 
YOUR CREATIVE OPTIONS. 

The Gibson Light Pen System comes complete with all you need to draw, 
paint, design, score music and learn animation. 

DRAW FREEHAND WITH PENPAINTER™ 

A full range of drawing tools, shapes, patterns and colors to draw or paint 
virtually anything on your screen. 

DESIGN PRECISION DIAGRAMS WITH PENDESIGNER." 
Turn your computer into your own graphic design studio. A complete selection 
of templates make perfect business and architectural diagrams, technical 
drawings and engineering schematics a snap. 

CREATE COMPUTERIZED ANIMATION WITH PENANIMATOR™ 

All that you need to learn the basics of animation. Develop your own animation 

sequences, and bring your screen to life. 

COMPOSE MUSIC WITH PENMUSICIAN™ 

Score computerized melodies with incredible ease at the touch of your pen. 

CREATE YOUR OWN LIGHT PEN APPLICATIONS WITH THE PENTRAK 
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Take advantage of the software features, and customize your own light pen 
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NOW AVAILABLE FOR THE APPLE II SERIES 
Coming soon for the IBM PC * and PCjr. " 



m m 



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VE LIKE MOST 

BUY A SINGLE 



YOU'LL BUY LOTS OF SPINNAKER GAMES. 

And not just because they're educational, but also because they happen 
to be a lot of fun to play 

In fact, they're so much fun, parents have been known to sneak in a 
few hours of play when the kids are asleep. 

After all, if your kids are actually enjoying a learning game, there must 
be something to it. And there is: Fun, excitement and real educational 
value. That's what sets Spinnaker games apart from all the rest. And 
what brings parents back for more. 

We offer a wide range of learning games for a wide range of age groups: 
3 to 14. One look at these two pages will show you how we carefully 
designed our line of learning games to grow right along with your child. 

So if you're looking for a line of learning games that are as much fun to 
play as they are to buy, consider Spinnaker Games. They're compatible 
with Apple. Atari, IBM PC, PCjr, Commodore 64, Coleco Adam and parents 
who don't mind their kids having fun while they learn. 



It s new! GRANDMA'S HOUSE™ 
is a magical playhouse. 
Ages 4 to 8. 

GRANDMA'S HOUSE is a very 
special place for your kids, because 
they can furnish it with lots of won- 
derful and unusual things from 
the magical places they'll visit. 

GRANDMA'S HOUSE provides 
children with an imaginative way 
to exercise their creativity as they 
design their own perfect play- 
house. You'll love watching your 
kids have fun with GRANDMA'S 
HOUSE— you can even join in and 
play it with them! 






It's new! KIDWRITER™ lets kids 
make their own storybook. 
Ages 6 to 10. 

KIDWRITER gives children a 
unique new format for creating 
their own stories. With KIDWRITER, 
kids make colorful scenes, then 
add their own story lines, it's as 
versatile and exciting as your 
child's imagination! 

Best of all, while it encourages 
children to create word and pic- 
ture stories, it also introduces 
them to the fundamentals of 
word processing. KIDWRITER 
will bring out the storyteller in 
your children— and in you! 





Apple and Atari are registered trademarks of Apple Computer. Inc. and Atari. Inc respectively. IBM PC and PCjr. Commodore 64 and Coleco Adam are trademarks of International Business Machines Corp . Commodore 
Electronics Ltd and Coleco Industries respectively ©1984 . Spinnaker Software Corp All rights reserved. 



PARENTS, YOU WON'T 
SPINNAKER GAME. 




SPffY/Wf/Sff 



FRACTION FEVER™ brings 
fractions into play. 
Ages 7 to Adult. 

FRACTION FEVER is a fast-paced 
arcade game that challenges a 
child's understanding of fractions. 
As kids race across the screen in 
search of the assigned fraction, 
they're actually learning what a 
fraction is and about relationships 
between fractions. 

All in all, FRACTION FEVER 
encourages kids to learn as much 
as they can about fractions— just 
for the fun of it! 





KINDERCOMP.™ Numbers, shapes, 
letters, words and drawings 
make fun. 
Ages 3 to 8. 

KINDERCOMP allows very young 
children to start learning on the 
computer. It lets your children 
match shapes and letters, write 
their names, draw pictures and 
fill in missing numbers. KINDER- 
COMP delights kids with colorful 
rewards— the screen comes to life 
when correct answers are given. 

As a parent, you can enjoy the 
fact that your children are having 
fun while improving their reading 
readiness and counting skills. 





PACEMAKER™ makes faces fun. 
Ages 3 to 8. 

PACEMAKER lets children 
create their own funny faces on 
the screen, then make them do 
all kinds of neat things: wink, 
smile, wiggle their ears, and more. 

Plus, PACEMAKER helps famil- 
iarize children with such com- 
puter fundamentals as menus, 
cursors, simple programs, and 
graphics. PACEMAKER won't 
make parents frown because their 
children will have fun making 
friends with the computer. 




We make learning fun. 



Disks for: Apple. Atari. IBM PC and PCjr. Commodore 64 
Cartridges for: Atari. IBM PCjr. Commodore 64. Coleco Adam. 



Now you can have the power of Quark's Word Juggler word ^ 
processor. And the convenience of the Lexicheck spelling checker, 
with its 50,000 word dictionary and special Word Guess Plus ™ 
feature. All in one package. For virtually half the price. 

The new suggested retail for Word Juggler He is only $189. 
Word Juggler for the Apple III and III Plus is only $229*. 

Ask for a demonstration today. For the name of the Quark 
dealer nearest you, call 1 (800) 543-771 1. And be sure you look into 
Quark's other popular office automation tools for the Apple He, 
Apple III and Apple III Plus. Especially the Catalyst™ program 
selector. 



♦Previous list prices: Word Juggler He, $239; Lexicheck lie, $129; Word Juggler 
for the Apple III, $295; Lexicheck for the Apple III, $149. All prices suggested 
U.S. retail. 



Quark, Word Juggler, Lexicheck, Word Guess Plus and Catalyst are 
trademarks of Quark Incorporated. Apple is a registered trademark 
of Apple Computer, Inc. 



Quark 

Hi^Hm INCORPORATED 

Office Automation Tools 

2525 West Evans, Suite 220 
Denver CO 80219 



MAY 1984 

OPEN 

Open Discussion gives you the chance to air your 
views and concerns, to seek answers to questions, to 
offer solutions or helpful suggestions , and to develop 
a rapport with other readers. It 's what you make it, so 
share your thoughts, typed or printed, and double- 
spaced (please), in Softalk '.y Open Discussion, Box 
7039, North Hollywood, CA 91605. To ensure the in- 
clusion of as many contributions as possible, letters 
may be condensed and edited. 

Kan Ya Ketch Quark? Alaska 

I would like to express my appreciation to Quark 
for their conscientious attention to customer serv- 
ice. We purchased Catalyst from Quark some time 
ago for use on our Apple III with a ProFile hard 
disk. We experienced a few minor problems, 
mostly due to misinterpretation of the instructions 
in the manual. Each time I wrote to Quark they 
called me back almost immediately to respond to 
my questions. I've worked with many companies 
and I know what it's like to deal with one that 
doesn't place great importance on user support. It 
is no fun to be on the telephone trail for weeks at a 
time in an attempt to get a problem solved. Happi- 
ly for us, Quark makes fine products and supports 
them extremely well. 
Michael Youngblood, Ketchikan, AK 

More Than Routine 

I have obtained much valuable information from 
reading Open Discussion, and so I would like to 
pass on to others the favorable experience I've had 
in dealing with Roger Wagner Publishing (nee 
Southwestern Data Systems). I purchased 
their A.C.E. editor and Routine Machine, and I 
couldn't be more pleased with both purchases. The 
editor is a marvelous time-saver that eliminates the 
tedious task of editing, and it incorporates a most 
convenient renumber utility. Routine Machine in- 
corporates more than thirty fast, easy-to-use rou- 
tines including an incredibly fast sort. As a begin- 
ning programmer, I had many questions and the 
people at Roger Wagner Publishing were most pa- 
tient with me. One of their people even wrote a 
separate routine for me to accomplish a specific 
task. What more could a firm supply in the way of 
support? 

Arthur J. Mier, Grand Rapids, MI 
Mountaineering 

I have a CPS Multifunction Card by Mountain 
Computer. It went down shortly after I purchased 
it. I called Mountain Computer and they tried to 
help me by phone, but to no avail. So I returned 
the card to them for repair. Approximately ten 
days later it was back and ready to go. Wouldn't it 
be nice if all companies were this cooperative and 
this prompt when handling our problems? 
Joe K. Evans, Roanoke, VA 

Apple Sanity Preserves 

I'd like to alert Apple II Plus owners to a potential 
problem with graphics printers and certain graph- 
ics software. I'd also like to publicly acknowledge 
some friendly technical support. As I understand 
it, certain modifications were made to Apple II 
Plus systems manufactured in the second half of 
1982 under the direction of the FCC. The purpose 
of the modifications was to reduce radio-frequen- 
cy interference generated by the systems. An un- 
fortunate consequence of the change— which was 
corrected in subsequent units, I am told— was the 
introduction of significant noise on the line to the 
printer. This causes problems with transmission of 
graphics data to the printer. I have encountered the 



smml 
D I S ( U 

problem with a graphics screen dump program, 
Printographer, and with PFS.File. 

The screen dump program bombed after one 
line. After spending several hours trying to con- 
figure the screen dump program properly, I con- 
tacted the software manufacturers, Roger Wagner 
Publishing. The people there were most willing to 
help. I sent them several of my trial runs and con- 
figurations, but nothing helped. Then, convinced 
that my printer board was the culprit, I spoke with 
a technical support person at Microtek, who didn't 
have an answer either. I contacted my local Epson 
dealer, who was also unable to help me. Frustrated 
but undaunted, I reached Epson's technical sup- 
port group. Within five minutes they recognized 
the fault and explained how it should be fixed. Fol- 
lowing this, I called Microtek again. Armed with 
the- information from Epson, this time I received a 
solution. 

The problem was corrected by a 220-picofarad 
capacitor soldered across my printer interface 
card. The screen dump program works like a 
charm. I want to publicly thank Epson and 
Microtek for their help in preserving my sanity 
and reassuring me about my Apple II Plus. 
Michael Gornish, Saint Louis, MO 

No Surprises, Please 

I love Super-Text for all word processing. After a 
year of heavy use, I still keep discovering things it 
will do. Why couldn't I see right away that its 
global search and autolink is the only way to file 
letters? That certain features can bring up a fill-in 
form for all my letter writing? That the lines are 
being counted as I write? 

Maybe the personal computer industry has ful- 
filled its obligations with hardware and software 
manuals and tutorials, but I think the technical ex- 
planations have taken precedence over explana- 
tions of the tasks the hardware and software can 
perform. There is almost no literature that will 
help the user understand just what a computer can 
do. I think there is a market for articles or booklets 
describing what can be done with the better word 
processing and listing programs. Or maybe the ad- 
vertisement of such articles has escaped my notice. 
Raymond A. Petrea, Winston-Salem, NC 

Potholes on Money Street 

Just how wonderful is Money Street? I feel there 
are several deficiencies in this program. You are 
limited to fifteen letters for the name of your fami- 
ly or business (this is not appropriate for my 
needs). An even more serious defect is that, al- 
though 100 codes are available, the user is limited 
to two-digit numbers. Many businesses number 
their accounts using three- or four-digit numbers, 
thereby making Money Street incompatible with 
their usual numbering system. 

My other complaints concern problems that are 
less serious because you can work in spite of them. 
There are more than a dozen reports available, but 
for some reason, while some are available to either 
screen or printer (which is good), some are 
available only to the printer (which is dumb). 

A last flaw in this program appears when you 
enter data. Everything except the check number 
defaults to the previous entry. So, for example, if 
a check is written on May 1, 1984, to the XYZ 
Company for twenty-five dollars, the next check is 
also dated May 1 , 1984, and twenty-five dollars is 
paid to the order of the XYZ Company until you 
retype it. Except under unusual circumstances, 
one does not write consecutive checks to the same 



s \ i o ri 

payee for the same amount on the same date. So, 
although the program is fast, its defects should be 
weighed carefully by the prospective user. 
Selbert A. Chernila, Torrance, CA 

A Peachy Combination 

I would like to mention that I have found what I 
consider the best program that I have seen since I 
bought my Apple in 1978. It is a home financial 
program called Time Is Money, by Turning Point 
Software. It is extensive, complete, and fast. 

I also went through five word processors and 
then discovered the Peachtree combination of 
Peachtext, Spelling Proofreader, Mailing List 
Manager, and PeachCalc . They are marvelous! 
There is nothing I can dream up that I would want 
a word processor to do that this system doesn't. 
D. Leppard, Morristown, NJ 

General Flight Instructions 

Reader Gary Suboter laments that he is not experi- 
enced enough to fully enjoy the power of The 
General Manager (February Open Discussion). 
Rather, I suspect that it may be the poorly written 
manual that is at fault. I bought the program after 
reading a favorable review and several positive 
letters in Softalk. The software is excellent, but the 
documentation is very confusing. It's a shame 
when a manual is bad enough to discourage users 
from even trying the program, as I almost was. 
But if poorly written manuals are bad, inaccurate 
ones are worse. I've been using SubLogic's Flight 
Simulator II for a month and have compiled an 
ever-expanding list of features that don't work as 
documented. 

So, to potential buyers of The General Man- 
ager, be wary of buying it until the manual says 
what it does; as for Flight Simulator II, don't buy 
it until it does what the manual says. 
Franklin Tessler, Los Angeles, CA 

Wrong-Minded Hordes 

After reading about Apple's Macintosh— the cover 
story in just about every February computer maga- 
zine—I started examining my budget to see where 
I could squeeze out the $2,495 needed to buy one. 
Then I read that Apple was selling the Mac to col- 
lege students for $1,000. Who in their right mind 
would pay two and a half times as much as some- 
one else for the same item? Has John Sculley 
failed to learn anything from the Lisa pricing fias- 
co? For myself, I think I will wait a year. By then, 
the price of a Macintosh should have been cut in 
half like the Lisa's— then I'll buy one. 
Ralph Orrico, Coraopolis, PA 

Big Bad Bang 

Softalk has gone astray in its publication of The 
Grand Unification of Physics, which appeared in 
the March issue. I can't imagine that any signifi- 
cant percentage of Softalk's readership knows (or 
cares) about the issues being discussed in that arti- 
cle. When I want to bring myself up to date on 
grand unification theories, I do it by reading The 
Physical Review, Reviews of Modem Physics, or 
any of a number of other journals published by the 
national and international scientific community. 
When I want to learn about Modula-2, software or 
hardware packages, or new products, I look for it 
in Softalk. Please don't squander your limited 
number of pages by publishing articles that are ad- 
dressed to the wrong readership. 

As for the technical merit of that article, it is a 
second-party review of an unpublished manu- 



Penguin Milestones 



April 1981 

1st Complete Graphics System is shipped. 
September 1981 

Complete Graphics System makes Sof talk's Top Thirty for the first time. 

January 1982 

1st Graphics Magician is shipped. Penguin Software is the first software producer to announce that all its current and 
future applications software will be available on unprotected, copyable disks. 

July 1982 

All three software packages then being produced by Penguin Software: Complete Graphics System, Special Effects (now 
part of Complete Graphics System), and Graphics Magician, appear in the Softalk Top Ten in their category, beginning 
a many-month stretch in which all three remain there. 

April 1983 

Graphics Magician is voted the most popular utility of 1982 by the readers of Softalk, and the 19th most popular 
program of all time. Special Effects also makes the Top Ten in its category, and Transylvania is voted one of the top 
adventures of 1982. Meanwhile, Penguin announces an experiment in lowering the prices of recreational software. While 
those original experimental prices have now been increased, Penguin's recreational software is still among the lowest 
priced. 

Fall /Winter 1983 

Minit Man, The Coveted Mirror, and The Quest all appear in Softalk's Top Five in their monthly categories, with The 
Quest making an appearance as the #1 adventure. Transylvania is awarded by Electronic Games magazine for graphics 
and visual effects in a computer game. 

Spring 1984 

Of the five games released by Penguin Software since April 1983, four are voted by Softalk readers into the Top Ten in 
their categories for 1983. They are The Coveted Mirror, Pensate, Minit Man, and The Quest. Graphics Magician is once 
again voted 19th most popular program of all time. The Coveted Mirror also is voted by readers into the All-Time Top 
Thirty. The Quest is named the best graphic adventure of 1983 by Computer Games magazine. A modernized, all-new 
version of Complete Graphics System is shipped, having been in the works for well over a year. Penguin expands its 
graphics software to include Paper Graphics, a graphics printing tool, and Transitions, a presentation tool. 



Summer/ Fall 1984 
Watch Us! 

Home Applications. Fantasy Games. Double Hi-res Graphics. Educational Software. 
The first games on the Macintosh. . . . 



Thank you for making it possible! 



We Don't Strive for State-of-the-Art. . 

. . .We Define It. 



The Complete Graphics System 

This brand-new version of our non-programmers' graphics tools includes both best-selling 
and highly rated products: The Complete Graphics System II and Special Effects, 
combined into one easy-to-use package. All the command structures have been updated so 
that selections are made directly by pointing at choices from a graphics screen, or options 
are described on convenient help screens. This version is so advanced that users will 
hardly need a manual at all, yet they'll have the most diverse and powerful set of graphic 
capabilities readily at their fingertips. And we've combined all different versions into one 
single package that works with joysticks, paddles, trackball, the Apple Graphics Tablet, 




Apple Mouse, Houston Instruments' HiPad, and the Koala Pad. Priced at $79.95, it's sure 
to remain the most-used graphics development tool for the Apple. & pen §J5JSS!' 




The " | 

Graphics 
magician 

i\ penguin software 



The Graphics Magician 

The new version of The Graphics Magician takes all the abilities of the original version, 
adds to them, and simplifies their use for even the least technically-oriented programmers. 
Animation and picture-drawing routines from this best-seller are being used in published 
products from over two dozen companies, including the likes of Sierra On-Line, Sir-Tech, 
Milton-Bradley, Mattel, Spinnaker, Adventure International, and many others. The big 
news is that versions are now being released for Macintosh, Atari, IBM, and Commodore 
personal computers, with graphics files transferable between computers. That means that a 
programmer's graphics work on one computer no longer needs to be redone on other 
computers . . . they can just be transferred with The Graphics Magician. Retail price is 
$59.95 for the Apple. 



Paper Graphics 



Paper Graphics is a brand-new graphics screen-to-printer printing utility. As you would 
expect from Penguin, it's the most advanced and easy-to-use of any such utility available 
today. An advance, incomplete version has already received an A+ rating from Peelings 
II, which called it "the most complete of the graphics-dump programs reviewed to date". 
Besides being compatible with virtually every interface card /black and white printer 
combination imaginable (we challenge you to find one that it won't work with), Paper 
Graphics includes magnification, cropping, screen editing, labeling, framing, combination 
dumps of both graphics screens, and the ability to pack and unpack pictures. At $49.95, 
you shouldn't settle for less. 

Transitions 

Transitions is the most advanced graphics presentation system yet on microcomputers. 
With it, you can easily create self-running or manually operated slide shows or 
presentations by combining up to eight picture disks (packed or unpacked) and 44 different 
transitions (screen wipes) between slides. Users can even see a graphic "catalog" of their 
picture disks, consisting of miniature versions of the pictures on each disk presented on the 
graphics screen. For a very professional-looking presentation, no other program will do. 
Transitions retails for $49.95, and together with The Complete Graphics System and Paper 
Graphics makes the most versatile set of graphics programs anyone could own for 
their Apple computer. 

Additional Typesets and Map Pack 

Two add-ons are available for The Complete Graphics System, at $19.95 each. Additional 
Type Sets contain over 50 extra typefaces that can be used with the text routines in CGS. 
Map Pack contains over 100 hi-res maps already on packed graphics screens. 




penguin software 



TM 





the graphics people 



830 Fourth Avenue, P.O. Box 311, Geneva, IL 60134 (312) 232-1984 



14 

script, which is about as flimsy a contribution as 
you can get. Guard our pages. Stick to subjects 
you are competent to pass judgment on, and ones 
that suit the purposes and desires of your reader- 
ship. 

Dick Smith, Pensacola, FL 
Improving the Odds 

Oops! We thought we had designed the perfect 
parimutuel betting system for the Apple. The Odds- 
maker takes bets, computes odds, payouts, and 
betting totals, prints tickets, saves and restores 
multiple betting events, and even takes a house 
cut. Then Softalk pointed out in the March Mar- 
ketalk Reviews that we hadn't gone the extra step; 
while payouts were displayed for a one dollar bet, 
we had left it up to the user to multiply the amount 
of the winning bet by the payout for a one dollar 
bet in order to come up with the actual payout. 

Well, we went back and corrected the omis- 
sion. The Oddsmaker now features a new screen 
that instantly calculates the winning payout for any 
amount bet. Our thanks to the folks at Softalk for 
helping us improve our product. 
John Zieg, CZ Software, South Yarmouth, MA 

Apple's Teacher Polisher 

Looking through the ads in Softalk over the past 
few years, I have noticed an increase in the 
amount of educational software being released for 
the Apple. This is a step forward, but the tag "edu- 
cational" is not always accurate. Friends of mine 
have Spinnaker's Fraction Fever. Not only is the 
game a graphic disappointment, but the pogo stick 
is hard to control, making the game frustrating to 
play. Moreover, the game does not really involve 
factoring at all, just the mere identification of frac- 




mm i 



tions. Anyone young enough to learn anything 
from this game would not be adept enough to con- 
trol it. 

I am using Fraction Fever as a mere symbol for 
the useless educational software currently swamp- 
ing the market. Sure, we can all play arcade games 
and have fun, but an arcade game for young chil- 
dren should not be dubbed "educational" simply 
because it is geared for kids. It does not take much 
to provide an amusing program that teaches the 
material. I am sixteen; I learned factoring from a 
Fortran program that gave an algebraic expression 
in plain symbols and asked me to factor it. It then 
provided a diagnosis of my mistakes. It was suc- 
cessful because it provided a challenge and acted 
as a teacher instead of a tester. 

My three-and-a-half-year-old brother is learn- 
ing how to read using a DEC VT-100 terminal 
hooked up to a mainframe, which, for educational 
purposes, is less sophisticated than an Apple II. 
What is the expensive, graphically amazing pro- 
gram that is teaching him the alphabet and how to 
read? It is a ten-line program that makes the entire 
alphabet scroll up the screen in big letters. Instead 
of moving some unidentifiable figure around with 
a joystick, he is learning how to type! My only 
fear is that when asked to recite the alphabet, he 
will say, "Q, W, E, R, T, Y. . . . " 

Our educational system, which breeds illiter- 
ates by failing to really teach kids before the age of 
six and by failing to keep the early learners from 
being bored, must be supplemented. A computer 
is a great learning tool and the Apple's fine color 
graphics give it great educational potential. Let's 
not accept educational games that keep parents 
busy wading through books of instructions and 
that turn children off. Let's set children on the 
right learning path from the start and provide them 
with truly educational programs. 
Jonathan Dubman, Chicago, IL 

Erewhon Revisited 

Now that we have heard from the experts in the 
January Softalk ("Only A Day Away: Industry 
Leaders Talk about Tomorrow"), it is time indus- 
try leaders heard from users about what they want. 
Software should be idiotproof and essentially bug- 
free. A well-designed-and-constructed system 
should be efficient and easy to build, test, install, 
use, and maintain. 

System documentation must be written so that 
people without computer experience can under- 
stand what to do. System developers are not the 
best people to write documentation. Have a 
secretary write it after he or she has struggled with 
the system. Include detailed start-up, error recov- 
ery, and shut-down instructions. 

Some of the programs that I would like to have 
require CP/M or Pascal. Why should it be neces- 
sary to buy more equipment to use these products? 
Systems should be aimed at specific problems, not 
specific computers. Programs should be written in 
C or some other language that can be compiled for 
a variety of computers. Software should be avail- 
able on disks of all sizes, usable in forty- or 
eighty-column format, and compatible with a vari- 
ety of operating systems. These steps will maxi- 
mize the number of customers. We also need to be 
able to upgrade to faster speeds and to obtain im- 
proved software in ROM without buying a whole 
new computer. 

When advertising a product, please be honest. 
Tell us exactly what problems the product ad- 
dresses. Don't hint at things that cannot be ac- 
complished. The warranty should be an honest 
one, not the legalese we now get. If I buy a soft- 



MAY 1984 



ware package, I expect it to work as advertised. If 
it doesn't, the manufacturer has a moral and legal 
obligation to fix it or refund my money. For a 
parting shot, how about the computer magazine 
publishers processing a new subscription in six to 
eight days and sending an acknowledgment stating 
the first issue to be delivered? 

This letter should not imply that all software is 
bad, all documentation poor, or all advertising dis- 
honest. But there is room for improvement. 
Hubert M. Hill, Kingsport, TN 

Presidential Poll: "Utilities" or "Hobby"? 

I agree with Bert. 

Mark Pelczarski, president, Penguin 
Robothink 

My favorite Softalk was the August 1983 issue 
("Robots Come Home"). I think home robots will 
soon be as popular as home computers are now. 
How about a section in Softalk called 
"Robotalk?" 

Peter "I Love Robots" Prodoehl, Greenfield, WI 
Semiglossary 

On page 227 of the January Softalk, where Peter 
Olivieri describes the method of creating a glossa- 
ry file for Apple Writer II and the Okidata Micro- 
line printers, there is an error on line number 80, 
which should be corrected to read as follows: 

80 Print chr$(A); 

Unless the change is made, the glossary file 
Special 2 is not in its correct form. 

I would like to commend Jerome Levy of 
Dresher, Pennsylvania, for his method of creating 
this glossary file for Apple Writer II and the 
Okidata Microline printers. I would also like to 
advise readers that Okidata can supply an Apple 
Writer II User Tip describing how to embed con- 
trol codes using the control-V function of Apple 
Writer II. The method that was published in 
Softalk, however, allows for more features of the 
Okidata Microline printers to be used, and does 
get around the limitations of the Apple II System 
and Apple Writer II software. Please note also that 
the superscript and subscript commands on the 
Okidata Microline printers can cancel each other, 
which allows you to replace the stop superscript or 
stop subscript commands with another possible 
feature of the Okidata Microline series of printers. 
Mark A. Tull, applications engineer, Okidata 

January's Mind Your Business has come to my 
rescue. I really thought I was never going to be 
able to use all the capability of my Okidata 93 with 
Apple Writer II. My sincere thanks to Jerome Levy 
for sharing the glossary file program and to Peter 
Olivieri for including it in his column. All I had to 
do was add a semicolon on the end of line 80 and I 
was in business. Thanks! 
A.W. Bellen, Ridgecrest, CA 

A Spoonful of Schuerger 

In the February Open Discussion, William C. 
Vasser asks about the shift key for upper-case let- 
ters in Apple Writer 1.0. He should get the Dan 
Paymar Lower Case Adapter, the instruction for 
the shift-key modification, and the Apple Writer 
patch. He will then get capital letters and readable 
lower-case letters on the screen. 

Dean A. Park wants to convert Apple Writer II 
files into something Magic Window could use. I 
have a great Apple Writer utility program called 
Apple Writer Extended Features (Brillig Systems, 
Burke, VA) that will convert Apple Writer 1.0 



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If you own an Apple computer, here are three of the freshest, 
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THE GUIDE TO APPLEWRITER II, by G. Alex Ayres and John A. Allen, 
makes this word-processing program as simple to learn as it is easy to 
use. Using step-by-step examples and 75 illustrations, it explains the 
editor and shows first-time users how to do everything from entering and 
editing text to printing letter-perfect documents. 
VISICALC" EXTENSIONS FOR THE APPLE II AND lie, by Jack 
Grushcow, is an applications oriented guide that can help you extend 
and adapt Visicalc™ to your own needs. Because it focuses on 
customized printing and sorting extensions, data transfer between 
spreadsheets, and connecting spreadsheets to the outside world, it's a 
must for the serious Visicalc™ user. 

THE COMPLEAT APPLE™ CP/M, by Steven Frankel, is the first 
comprehensive guide for Apple™ CP/M users. It provides in-depth 
comparisons between two CP/M 2.2 versions, the Microsoft Soft Card 
and the Micropro Star Card/Applicard. It also examines the Digital 
Research ALS card utilizing CP/M, and reviews the performance of over 
40 software programs. 

Visit your local book store or computer retailer and pick the title 
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PIXIT Shape Library includes a 
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Picture Editor features mixed text 
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files (I don't know about II) into text files and back 
again. Perhaps that would help. It also does many 
other useful things, such as permit the embedding 
of printer control characters into an Apple Writer 
file, multiple copies of letters with different ad- 
dresses, and simple editing of Applesoft pro- 
grams. 

R. Benjamin wants to know about using lower 
case. I find the Paymar adapter easy to use from 
within an Applesoft program, and some handy pro- 
gramming routines are available from either your 
dealer or from Dan Paymar. The adapter does 
have a shift lock, and it can also be totally ig- 
nored—if I didn't tell you it was there, you 
wouldn't know. I have not bothered to make the 
shift-key modification because I'm not sure it 
would be compatible with some of my utilities and 
now I'm in the habit of using the escape key. As 
far as adding RAM : Though it is not readily usable 
to the average programmer, if you get one of the 
DOSs that go onto the added board, you will pick 
up about 10K of available memory. 

I have a question about typeahead buffers. 
Does anybody have one that will work while 
something is being written to the disk? 
Ray Schuerger, Pittsburgh, PA 

Arrested Flasher 

The March Softalk contains a letter from Dale 
Watson of Cincinnati, Ohio, that describes a pro- 
gram to stop the Apple's cursor from flashing. 
The assembler code listed, however, was incor- 
rect. In the third line of code: 

310: 40 91 28 68 3C 21 FD 

the 3C in location 314 should have been a 4C. The 
4C is the 6502's code for a jump. The final three 
codes translate to Jump $FD2 1 . The 6502 cannot 
process a 3C; therefore, it issues an error and the 
program won't run. 
David Ingram, Fairfax, VA 

Skip the Preliminaries 

I hope I can help other Apple He and WordStar 
owners avoid one of the blind alleys that I've been 
in. If WordStar starts to show a few odd characters 
on the monitor, particularly in the overlay mes- 
sages, and then the cursor won't move at all, the 
problem probably is in the Apple eighty- 
column/64K extended memory card. 

The chips at fault seem to be the LS245 and the 
LS374. Cleaning their pins and the card's gold fin- 
gers helps somewhat. Removing the jumper Jl 
also seems to help. The best method, though, is re- 
placing the card before the ninety-day warranty 
runs out. 

Skip Zeller, Corte Madera, CA 
Rent-A-Mentor 

I read with interest R. Benjamin's various ques- 
tions about Apples in the February Open Discus- 
sion. I would like to add the voice of one who 
learned his lore by poking around on the keyboard 
and keeping an open ear when people talked Apple 
II. I have an Apple II Plus upgraded with a Videx 
Enhancer II, which supports upper- and lower- 
case letters, shift-lock, typeahead buffer, and user- 
defined keys (called macros). My answers are 
biased in favor of this hardware system. 

Lower-case adaptability in an Apple can be 
had, I am told, by the addition of a Videx lower- 
case chip onto the motherboard. However, before 
you go this route, check your Apple. I bought this 
chip, and was about to try it, when I noticed that it 
only works on revision seven Apples and above. 
Mine is a revision six Apple, so I was out of luck 



MAY 1984 



and had to go another route. Lower case can be 
used in most data applications (word processors, 
textfile-based data management programs, and so 
on). Remember, however, that if you use the 
lower-case letters in those applications, you will 
have to be consistent. Doing a search for "John 
Smith" will not turn up "JOHN SMITH." Also, 
if you would like to transfer data (or a program) 
that is based on lower case, a non-lower-case- 
adapted Apple II will not see the lower-case letters 
correctly. And, unless you have a Basic lower- 
case interpreter (such as GPLE or Beagle Basic), 
your machine will not understand lower case. 

A typeahead buffer enables you to type faster 
than the computer's keyboard memory buffer 
would normally permit. For example, if you are 
an excellent typist and would like to type fifty 
words per minute, your Apple will forget some of 
your letters. With a typeahead buffer, the letters 
you type will all (eventually) show up on the moni- 
tor. 

An eighty-column board can be used in some 
selected applications that support eighty columns. 
For example, Apple Writer II does not support an 
eighty-column data display without an eighty- 
column preboot. The preboot comes on another 
disk, which comes with an additional charge. 

Numeric keypads are fine if you use them. If 
you are familiar with the ten-key numeric pad of a 
calculator, a numeric keypad is an advantage when 
it comes to speed. I think a typewriter is a type- 
writer, and a numeric keypad is a costly nuisance. 
You should adapt to the instrument at hand. Do 
you feel the need to use a keypad when you type 
the date on a letter, or do you teach yourself where 
the numbers are on the typewriter keyboard? As 
for other options, a shift lock is very useful when 
entering program information, or when you don't 
want to constantly use the shift key to type upper- 
case letters and lower-case numbers. Finally, con- 
cerning user-defined keys, how much will you use 
them? A lot? Some? Never? A utility program 
such as GPLE supports user-defined keys with no 
additional cost for hardware. 

This has been quite a lengthy answer to some 
short questions— but I write with the view that I 
wish someone had told me a few of these things 
when I first got my Apple II! 
Steve Matlock, Cypress, CA 

Pascal Pal 

This is in response to Ed Lusky's plea for help. 
Try to get a version of Pascal similar to that used 
in the computer courses you are taking. If you 
can't, then try Apple Pascal, which is based on 
UCSD Pascal, a popular version (at least, I like 
it). The Apple He's 64K can accommodate Pascal; 
as of this writing, the Apple Pascal system can't 
make use of any additional memory if you had it. 
(I've heard that Apple is going to release a new 
version that can make use of extra memory, but I 
don't know when.) 

Two disk drives are quite sufficient for most 
applications, but if you have extra money that you 
just don't know what to do with, then I suggest 
you buy Apple's eighty-column card. There are 
two versions of the card, one of which gives you 
64K of additional memory. You might want to buy 
that one; if Apple releases a new version of Pascal 
soon, you'll thank yourself. 
Paul Lucas, Levittown, NY 

Public Libraries 

This is in response to Paul Raymer's letter in the 
February Open Discussion bemoaning the lack of 
inexpensive CP/M software in Apple 5 1/4-inch 



Apple's 9 new ProDOS 
is pro Thunderclock 



When Apple designed their new 
ProDOS operating system for the Apple II 
family, they included an important new 
function — the ability to automatically 
read a clock/calendar card. Nice touch. 

It means that every time you create 
a new file or modify an existing one, the 
time and date are automatically recorded 
and stored in the CATALOG. 

Now you 




S *S/Cb y 



ach <«neyou a ' e " a < 
the nJr.J"^ 



f srC ard 

""\*'0D0 S . 



roD °Ssee Si 



4ft 






can instantly 
know the 
exact time 
your files were 
last updated. 
Apple could 
have chosen any 
clock for ProDOS 
to recognize, 
but they chose 
only one. 
Thunderclock. 
It's the only 
clock men- 
tioned in 
the ProDOS 
manuals. 

That's a nice 
stroke for us, but it's 
even better for you. 
Because, in addition 
to organizing your disk 
files, Thunderclock will 
add a new dimension to 
all the new ProDOS-based 
software. For instance, with 
business or communications 



* Apple and the Apple logo are registered trademarks of 
Apple Computer, Inc. 

™ ProDOS is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. 



(D 



"0 

B 
o 
o 

c 

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software you can access a data base or 
send electronic mail automatically, when 
the rates are lowest. Even when you're not 
around. And that's just a start. The better 
you can use your Apple, the better you 
can use a Thunderclock. 

Thunderclock gives you access to 
the year, month, date, day-of-week, 
hour, minute and second. It lets you time 
intervals down to milliseconds and is 
compatible with 
all of Apple's 
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Thunderclock 
comes with a one-year 
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If you want to make ProDOS 
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See your dealer or contact us. 



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MAY 1984 



format. Public domain software is readily avail- 
able. Many of the programs in the CPMUG and 
SIG/M libraries work under Apple CP/M with ab- 
solutely no modification. Many others need only 
minor reconfiguration (terminal configuration, 
mostly). Since most of the programs are supplied 
as source code and are well documented, it is 
fairly easy to configure them to work on the Ap- 
ple. In fact, in several cases Apple configuration is 
provided by conditional assembly statements that 
are already in the code. 

According to literature I obtained from 
CPMUG in April 1983, the CPMUG library of 
ninety-two volumes is available from the New 
York Area Computer Club for ten dollars per vol- 
ume on 8-inch disks or for eighteen dollars per 
volume on Apple 5 1/4-inch disks. 

The SIG/M library of 152 volumes is even less 
expensive. It costs five dollars per volume, plus 
one dollar per order, for 8-inch format from 
SIG/M-Amateur Computer Group of Scotch 
Plains, New Jersey. Many clubs and groups make 
this library available in Apple 5 1/4-inch format. 
One such club is Apple T.R.E.E. in Huntington, 
West Virginia. 

Finally, I was surprised at Raymer's statement 
concerning the need for an update to make CP/M 
work on his He. I moved a Microsoft card from an 
Apple II Plus to an Apple lie and had absolutely no 
problems. 

Gary Anderson, Huntington, WV 

Faster Out of the Huddle 

I would like to respond to Lynn Leopard (March 
Open Discussion). I had the same problem with 
the new version of Strategic Simulations's Com- 
puter Quarterback being slower than the original 
version. I called the company and they said all the 
older versions were thrown out. I was stuck with 
playing the game in slow motion— until I received 
my new Titan Technologies Accelerator II in the 
mail. Boy, was it amazing! The speed increase was 
incredible, and it worked with more than games. It 
sped up all my favorite programs, including 
VisiCalc, Apple Writer II, and DB Master. No 
more waiting for me; my hat is off to the people of 
Titan Technologies of Ann Arbor, Michigan. 
Brian T. Knight, Tecumseh, MI 

Santa's Star-Gazers 

I am a school speech/language pathologist and, in 
addition, have just begun teaching computer 
classes at a rural elementary school. The school 
system is out of money after buying the hardware, 
and I have stretched my pocketbook to the limit. 
My first question is, if you are allowed to make 
backup copies for your personal use, does this in- 
clude a school system purchasing a package and 
then copying enough for all of the schools in the 
system? Can a single school purchase a package 
and then make copies for all of the computers 
within that school? 

Second, I looked forward for months to buying 
a Telstar One by IUS to accompany my daughter's 
Christmas telescope. The reviews made it sound 
like an excellent program. However, when I tried 
to order this program I was told that it was discon- 
tinued by IUS because of a disagreement with the 
author! Does anyone know where an old copy can 
be obtained or when it will again be in production? 
Jill B. Harman, Manchester, GA 

III Cheers 

I am trying to locate an eight-inch floppy disk 
drive for use on an Apple III. Perhaps a reader has 
a suggestion. I need disks that are double-sided 




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and double-density. I need all necessary compo- 
nents available without having to do my own de- 
sign work, including the disk drive, controller 
board, power supply, cabinet, and SOS driver. I 
would be willing to assemble a kit or separate 
components. It would be especially nice if I had 
the ability to read (via a SOS driver) single-sided, 
single-density disks (IBM 3740 format), and if the 
whole package cost under $1,000 (the further 
under the better). 

I believe that the Apple III is an excellent ma- 
chine. It's too bad that Apple bungled its introduc- 
tion and promotion. For a general user, its strong- 
est point appears to be its weakest link— device 
independence through SOS drivers. Many people 
appear to find the installation of these intimidat- 
ing. Being an avid Apple III and Pascal fan, I find 
the articles by John Jeppson and Jim Merritt to be 
particularly fascinating. Jeppson is above my tech- 
nical level, providing me with much to learn. Mer- 
ritt writes more for my level and his articles are 
readily understandable. I compliment him on his 
clarity of explanation and good analogies and ex- 
amples. 

Milton L. Johnson, Milwaukie, OR 

Business and Recreational Basic 

Our organization currently has ten 256K Apple 
JJJs in use. The users range in experience from a 
few who have had Fortran and Cobol training to 
rank novices (like me). 

My responsibilities lie in the field of parks/rec- 
reational-areas planning. I have a real interest in 
Business Graphics and its potential application to 
mapping, advertising, and internal presentations. I 
thought I was getting a handle on it until I started 
reading your column. You made me aware that I 
was just scratching the surface. Business Basic is, 
at least for now, the operative language in our of- 
fices. Can any readers suggest any books on Apple 
III Basic? Keeping in mind the range of experience 
of our users, and the lack of elaboration in the 
manuals, such a text would be worth its weight in 
gold around here. 

Dill Ringham, Cochrane, Ontario, Canada 

You may want to contact the Business Apple 
Group, located at 1850 Union Street, Suite 494, 
San Francisco, CA 94123. 

Oh, Good Graph 

I compiled the BasicGraph program that appeared 
in the December 1983 Basic Solution column. For 
compiling, I used the Hayden Compiler Plus. 
After compiling, the pie chart shown in the col- 
umn took nine seconds to be drawn. Incidentally, I 
did have to make some modifications to the pro- 
gram before it compiled. For some reason I kept 
getting the out-of-data error when I ran the com- 
piled version. I finally solved it by manually as- 
signing C$; that is, C$(0) = "0000", 
C$(l) = "2202", and so on. Quite a nice program. 
Thanks. 

David T. Harvey, Jr., Arlington, VA 

A Natural Response to Peeking 

In response to Mike Zulauf s letter (March Open 
Discussion), the area around hex location C030 is 
a soft switch that controls the speaker. Listing 
$C030 in machine language or peeking at location 
— 16336 in Basic instructs the computer that the 
speaker is being addressed, which clicks in re- 
sponse. Regarding the read at location $C080, the 
computer will hang unless the Apple has been boot- 
ed with a System Master disk and Integer Basic, 
because it's another soft switch that requires In- 



MAY 1984 

teger Basic to work. For a better explanation, 
please see the If/Then/Maybe column in the 
February Softalk. 

I also want to comment on how great it has 
been getting Softalk the last couple of months. I 
find the articles very insightful, especially the 
guide to assembly language, and I always read the 
software reviews. I use Apples at school but don't 
currently own one; reading Softalk has made me 
more determined to get one. Thanks, and keep up 
the good work. 
Peter Neubert, Appleton, WI 

King-Size Sheets 

We have an Apple He with 128K. Our software is 
Multiplan by Microsoft. We evidently build larger 
spreadsheets than normal because we are running 
out of storage capacity. We feel that we need from 
200K to 300K— and all of this on one disk. Can a 
reader help us with the best way to accomplish 
this? 

David L. Parks, Decatur, AL 

A Farthing for Your Thoughts 

I have an Apple He computer with an Epson 
MX-80 III F/T printer, and I use the Apple Writer 

II word processor. I have a need for the British 
pound symbol in much of the word processing 
work I do. I would like to embed the program to 
print the pound symbol in the Apple Writer glossa- 
ry so that I can use it easily when I want to. I 
would appreciate it if a reader could tell me how to 
do so. Can I program one of the keys to print the 
pound symbol? I know nothing about program- 
ming, so I will need to know the complete step-by- 
step process. 

Kendall C. Sanford, Baie d'Urfe, Quebec, Canada 
Adavocate 

I think that Ada is a strong language and I would 
like to use it. Can someone tell me if it is available 
for my Apple He (64K with an eighty-column 
card) and where I can get it? Also, what operating 
system does it run under? 
Mike McCormick, Pittsburgh, PA 

Super Text, Poor Spelling 

I have been searching for a long time for a spelling 
checker that will work with Supertext and have 
found nothing that even comes close. Can anyone 
help me? 

Jack Woychowski, Toms River, NJ 
Mourning After 

Has anyone written a program for computing the 
Yahrzeit (a Yiddish term for the anniversary of 
death, pronounced Yorksite)? I would like to pur- 
chase a program for this if available. 
Harry Northrop, Waterville, NY 



Omnisoft, The Artful Dodger 

The elusive Omnisoft Corporation and its Star- 
fire Games division— formerly operating a one- 
sided mail order business out of a Chats worth, 
California, condominium— has relocated. Ac- 
cording to the office of the Regional Chief Postal 
Inspector for the western region in San Bruno, 
California, Omnisoft has moved to Wichita 
Falls, Texas. We are as yet unable to locate an 
address or phone number for the company in 
Wichita Falls. Starfire complaints should be ad- 
dressed to the Regional Chief Postal Inspector, 
1407 Union, Memphis, Tennessee 18161. Atten- 
tion: Fraud. 31 



basf qualimetricflexydiskst 

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your most vital information will be 
secure for tomorrow when you enter 
it on BASF FlexyDisks today. 

We can offer this warranty with 
complete confidence because the 
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When your information must 





Enter tomorrow on basf today 

'Contact BASF for warranty details © 1982, BASF Systems Corporation, Bedford, MA 




BASF 



SOFTALK CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING 



Adventure 



TIPS HAS MOVED! 

ADVENTURE TIPS & SOLUTIONS 
has moved. Our new address: 
TIPS, 

Box 312-A, Hobbs, NM 88240. 

ADVENTURE TIPS & SOLUTIONS 

Quality books complete with Full Maps, Clues, 
and Solutions. Colossal Cave, Deadline,, all 3 
Zorks, Enchanter, Starcross, Transylvania, 
Death in the Caribbean, Mask of Sun, Cranston 
Manor, Ulysses, Wizard & Princess, Mission 
Asteroid, Pirate Adventure, Adventur eland. 
$3.95 each, any 3 for $10, or 4 for $12. NM 
residents add 5% tax. Send check/MO to: TIPS, 
Box 312-A, Hobbs, NM 88240. 



!!!ORG!!! 

A game with mighty monsters you must kill to 
get to ORG & save the beautiful princess. It has 
CLEAR-CRISP-COLOR-GRAPHICS, MUSIC 
THAT WOULD HUMBLE BEETHOVEN. 5 
levels only $10 + $1 shipping and handling. 
Send check/cash to Robert Cucinotta, 415 
Poinsettia Rd., Belleair, FL 33516. 



EAMON ADVENTURES 

Eamon starter kit of 18 adventures (Set 1) on 9 
disks for $35. Set 2 of 18 for $35. Set 3 of 14 
adv. & utilities for $30. First 36 for $60. All 50 
for $75. Sample disk @ $5. 100 Generik bulk 
SS/SD disks for $130. Jeff Bianco, 7210 N. 
Mercer Way, Mercer Island, WA 98040. 

♦FREE* ADVENTURE HINTS! 

Get one free cheat sheet/home. Send SASE w/5 
choices. We will send 1 FREE 'Slothsheet' full 
of hints and our catalog. 

SLOTHWARE SOFTWARE 
529 Farragut PL, Danville, CA 94526 



CHEAT A BIT (or a lot) with our charm- 
ing maps and coded clues for ADVENTURE 
GAMES. Dark Crystal, Wizard & Princess, 
Ulysses, Cranston Manor, Mask of Sun, Ser- 
pent's Star, Mystery House, Softporn, Transyl- 
vania, Death in Caribbean. RETURN MAIL 
SERVICE. $5/set or Summer Special: 3 sets/$10. 
Ask Alice, Box 3074, Stony Creek, CT 06405. 

ZORK MAPS & HINT BOOKS 

Master Zork I, II, III, Witness, Infidel, En- 
chanter, Starcross, Deadline, Planetfall, Adven- 
ture, and Suspended with our maps and hint 
books. Also, the Adventurer 's Tutorial (Tips on 
how to play any adventure game). $4.95 ea. or 
any 2 for $9! Visa/MC, Check or M/O. BRASS 
LANTERN PRESS, Dept. ST, 1625 W. 39th 
Ave., Kansas City, KS 66103; (913) 722-2464. 



HELP WANTED? 

Detailed and accurate maps and clues. We have 
them for Mask of the Sun, Serpent 's Star, Ulys- 
ses, Softporn Adventure, and Wizard and the 
Princess. $4.95 ea, 5/$20. NDA, Box 665, 
Sandy Hook, CT 06482. 



AT WITT'S END? 

Stuck on an adventure? Witt's Notes are the an- 
swer! We offer professional-looking booklets 
with complete hints and maps. Choose from a 
huge library of games including: Mystery, Wiz- 
ard, Cranston, Ulysses, Time, Dark Crystal, 
Zork (I, II, or III), Deadline, Starcross, Wit- 
ness, Suspended, Planetfall, Enchanter, Infidel, 
Mask Sun, Serpent, Transylvania, Quest, 
Coveted, Sherwood, Kabul, Crit, Mass, Gruds, 
Death Caribbean, Orig. Adventure and more. 
Prices: 1 @ $5.95, 2 @ $10, each add. $5 and 6 
@ $25. We accept check, MO, and MC/Visa. 
Write today for free catalog which includes but- 
tons, posters, discounted software, and other of- 
fers. Send to: WITT'S END, 42 Morehouse 
Rd., Easton, CT 06612; (203) 254-0728. Dealer 
inq. invited. CT res. add 7V2% tax. 



UNIQUE SOLUTIONS 

STUCK ON: Quest, Masquerade, Covet. Mirr., 
Witness , Mask Sun ,Serp Star. 30 + pg adventure 
walk-throughs divided into nonpeek sections. 
Story, hints, instrux + maps if appl. $5.95 ea. 
Ultima III Hint & Solve $4.95. Straight-away 
Guides avail, for Infidel & more $2.95 ea. Send 
for FREE list. Adventure Solutions, 5199 NE, 
12 Ave., Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33334. 



I Apple HI 1 

PASSWORD HI 

It's here at last, The 4 Billion Year Code. Protect 
your Apple HI files and beat the WHIZ KIDS at 
their own game. Advanced data encryption al- 
gorithm will password protect any type of file: 
spreadsheets, DB files, programs, word proc- 
essing files, and more (Hard disk supported). 
Breaking into a file protected by Password IE 
can take 4 billion years! Keep your information 
YOURS. Can you afford not to? Introductory 
offer: $55. From: GREBAR, Box 83 Station C, 
Winnipeg, Canada. 



Business 



VEHICLE MAINTENANCE REPORTER 

A complete record-keeping system for large and 
small vehicle fleets. Covers repairs, mainte- 
nance, expenses, parts costs, labor costs, ven- 
dors, mechanics, vehicles, and departments at 
machine language speed. $649. Nordic Soft- 
ware Inc., 4910 Dudley, Lincoln, NE 68504; 
(402) 466-6502. MC/Visa accepted. 



THE ORGANIZER! 

Let your Apple II, 11+ or He maintain your 
schedule of appt. & social events. Even remem- 
bers birthdays, holidays, etc. from year to year! 
Easy to use, only $19.95. DOS 3.3 DGD Soft- 
ware, 980 Masefield Rd., Balto., MD 21207. 



STATUS 

The complete statistical analysis program for 
business and science. You've seen the rest, now 
try the best. Free brochure. Software Special- 
ties, Box 329, Springboro, OH 45066; (513) 
748-0471. 



REAL ESTATE PROPERTY MAN- 

AGEMENTsoftware for owners of single 
family, apartments, condos, offices, mini- 
storage, duplexes. Provides instant cash flow 
analysis, records expenditures on each unit, 
prints cash flow reports and summary of opera- 
tions report, and accumulates cost for tax pur- 
poses. $149.95. Tomar Productions, Box 
740871, Dallas, TX 75374; (214) 750-1212. 



DIRECT MAIL H-a sophisticated mail 
merge for Apple H/IIe. Merge form letters from 
Apple Writer and other text processors with 
Visifile, General Manager, PFS, DIF or Text 
files. Fast processing. Easy to use. Builds mail- 
ing lists. Performance guaranteed. $99.95 plus 
shpg. Eval. disk and manual available. VEN- 
TURE SOFTWARE INC., Box 6502-S, 
Nashua, NH 03063; (603) 889-2556. 



LETTER MENU-an integrated series of 
WPLs for Apple Writer with more than 1,500 
lines of WPL commands. Simplify daily cor- 
respondence. Letter building/addressing are 
automatic. Easy to use. Menu driven. Tutorials 
give educational tips for writing better WPLs. 
$39 ppd. or manual only $6. VENTURE SOFT- 
WARE INC., Box 6502-S, Nashua, NH 03063; 
(603) 889-2556. 

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS 

Sophisticated! Bar and P&F charts, mov. aves, 
oscillators. Many indicators (R.S.I, %R, OBV, 
-I- more). Auto or manual data. Very powerful 
and very friendly! Great buy at only $99. 
Demo— $10. Brochure— DECISION TOOLS, 
199 N. El Camino Real, Suite F-293, Encinitas, 
CA 92024; (619) 942-7148. 



MIN-ROUTE 

MIN-ROUTE can be used by urban and resource 
planners in evaluating road networks. The pro- 
gram will find the shortest path through a road 
network from a point of departure to a destina- 
tion. Requires Apple II + /lie and 1 drive. 
$49.95. TW2 Consulting, Box 1074, Eagar, 
AZ 85925. 



PROTECT YOUR INVESTMENTS! 

The permanent portfolio analyzer designs, 
analyzes and tracks a portfolio that is balanced 
for the long term, offering capital preservation 
and appreciation, no matter what course the 
economy takes. "... a well-executed, 
well-written, well-documented package," says 
Softalk's Ken Landis. $295. Demo disk $25. 
Visa/MC. C.R. Hunter & Associates, 1527 
Northwood Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45237; (513) 
761-9322. 



ESTATE TAX PLANNER 

For MULTIPLAN users, Este has two modules. 
Intervivos calcs federal & state taxes for '84 & 
'87, links plans of spouses, compares tax & 
asset savings of two plans, figures fees & more. 
Postmortem has the same features & calcs cash 
needed to settle current estate. "What if" & 
professional reports. Requires 64K. Apple or 
MSDOS. $69.95. Wirewright, One Irvine Row, 
Carlisle, PA 17013; (717) 243-5513. 



STRUCTURAL ENGINEER PROGRAMS 

Frames, trusses, continuous beams, retaining 
walls, for 48K Apple with disk drive using Ap- 
plesoft. Finite element. Patterson Engineering, 
17315 Ash St., Fountain Valley, CA 92708; 
(714) 848-7866. 

THE DISK LABELLER 

A powerful program for AUTOMATIC printing 
of disk labels showing FILES, DOS— sec free & 
used. Built-in default & escape functions, auto 
config. for printer slots & drives. Completely 
MENU-driven. Req. no doc. Includes 300 5 in. 
labels. Req. 64K Apple II, II + , He disk dr., 
printer. Only $59.95 + $3 ship. NY res. add 
sales tax. Practical Software Ltd., Dept. ST, 
Box 64, Pomona, NY 10970; (914) 425-1158. 



Communications 



APPLE— IBM COMMUNICATION 

With APPLE-BISYNC your Apple II or lie can 
communicate directly with IBM mainframe sys- 
tems software. Ideal to transfer data files in both 
directions. EASY TO USE! Complete RJE ca- 
pabilities: submit jobs/data, extract listings/re- 
ports. True RJE 3780 emulation. Also Apple to 
Apple communication. URGEO Software, Box 
305, Cheney, WA 99004; (509) 838-6058. 




WIZARDRY/ULTIMA/? PLAYERS 

No matter what your game, you need WIZI- 
NEWS! The source for news, gossip, tips, ar- 
ticles, interviews for ALL fantasy/adventure 
games! Subscribe: $8/4 issues, sample $2. 
Nichols Services, 6901 Buckeye Way, Colum- 
bus, GA 31904. 

WORLDWIDE WIZFANS AGREE!! 

Wizardry's BEST players use the WIZISYS- 
TEM!!! NEW 85+ page manual: complete 
charts, great tips, step-by-step help for all 3 
games ($15). Superior maps $5 (Sc. 1, 2, or 3). 
All $25. OUR fix disk modifies/prints all 3 
games AND is but $15! FREE support/updates. 
Other Wiz-Products, too! Visa/MC. Don't 
waste $$ on inferior imitations! Nichols Ser- 
vices, 6901 Buckeye Way, Columbus, GA 
31904; (404) 323-9227. 




KNIGHTS OF WIZARDRY !!! 

Frustrated? Rookies and skilled players alike 
win with our system. Fully detailed maps con- 
taining all notes and hints needed. $6 each sce- 
nario. Master Manual has secret tricks and 
helpful hints, only $12. All for only $22.50. 
Master Maze System, 1404 S. Ocean Blvd., 
Myrtle Beach, SC 29577. 



EXODUS CONSTRUCTION SET 

The ULTIMAte Editor that lets you: 
Edit towns, dungeons, & the world. 
Populate your world with creatures. 
Uses easy on-screen editing technique. 
Manual is included. 

Make Ultima III scenarios for only $25 ( +6.5 % 
CA resident). Send Check or MO to: 
SLOTHWARE SOFTWARE, 
529 Farragut PI., Danville, CA 94526. 

ULTIMAte Solutions . . . 

Exodus's End for Ultima III and Minax's Bane 
for Ultima II will solve all your problems! With 
both programs: Completely overhaul your char- 
acter, print out statistics to printer, save or back 
up characters for later use. Send $9.95 for one, 
$15 for both prgms to: 

Olorin Software 
Box 96 
Friendship, OH 45630. 

GIANT SLOTHS HATE RICE 

Who cares? All you're really interested in is 
winning at Ultima II and ///, right? World's 
easiest to use character editors. $9 each or $14 
for both disks. Specify U or HI. Mike Scanlin, 
34 Giralda, Long Beach, CA 90803. 

WIZARDRY MAPS 

The First and The Best WIZARDRY MAPS. 
All Three maps for $7 or $3 each scenario. 
SEND to: Stanley Kasper, 4932 N. Ridgeway, 
Chicago, IL 60625. 

♦♦♦ATTENTION EXODUS PLAYERS^ 

Ultima III Character Editor. You can easily 
modify all of your character's stats! Poisoned? 
Dead? Ashes? Not enough Strength, Intelli- 
gence, Dexterity, or Wisdom? Insufficient 
H.P., Gold, Food? Need weapons or armour? 
Edit Anything! 48K Applesoft DOS 3.3 Charac- 
ter Editor $13, Notes & Map, $6.50. JENS 
Designs, Box 1795, Sandy, UT 84091. 

KNIGHTS OF WIZARDRY!!! 

Frustrated? Rookies and skilled players alike 
win with our system. Fully detailed maps con- 
taining all notes and hints needed. $6 each sce- 
nario. Master manual has secret tricks and 
helpful hints, only $12. All for only $22.50. 
Master Maze System, 1404 S. Ocean Blvd., 
Myrtle Beach, SC 29577. 

WIZARDRY GAMESTERS 

Teleported into solid rock? Restore your charac- 
ters with Legacy Breaker. Works with all three 
scenarios, modifies everything, including items, 
except chevrons. Only $20. Quantum, 106 E 
Washington, Coleman, MI 48618. 




H+ CAD 

Comprehensive, menu-oriented, graphics pro- 
gram for students and engineers. Isometrics, 
wire frames, architectural, etc. Rectilinear and 
polar lines, circles, triangles, rectangles, ellip- 
ses plain, solid, dashed, rotated, arcs, arrows, 
cursor draw/erase/fill, load, save, text any size. 
With coord, graph pad. $39.95 plus $2 shipping 
(6% tax in CA). CADSOFT, 8125-B Ronson 
Rd., San Diego, CA 92111. 



MasterChart! 





.HMIIIIi 




Create perfect pie, bar, and line charts in 26 different 
styles, color or B & W. Automatic scaling and 
labeling. Includes bonus graphics illustrator, 
letterer, shape maker, and plot-to-printer utilities. 
All on disk. Apple 11+ or He. Satisfaction or money 
back (Really!) Only $29.95. SPECTRAL GRAPHICS, 
540 N. California, Suite 22A, Stockton, CA 95202. 
CalL.(209) 463-7309 for C.O.D. orders only. 



KOALA PAD $84.95 

W/Micro Illustrator. For Apple JJ, JJ + , or lie. 
Also $24 for smoked Flip Disk Box— 70 cap. 
$2.50 shpg. each. IL res. +7%. Shipped 
promptly HELSINGOR, 1402 Lama Ln., Mt. 
Prospect, IL 60056. 

FIRST-TIME OFFER!! 

Customize your own Basic character set and add 
text to the hi-res screen. Draw shapes with 
keyboard. Create multi-shape tables automati- 
cally. Reproduce lo-res graphics on hi-res 
screen. Page mover (1, 2, & 3). Duplicate any 
portion of hi-res screen w/ or w/o erase. Visible 
sort. Exciting graphics. More. All BASIC. 
Nonprotected. Documented. $30 (5% tax in 
IN). WWM ENTERPRISES, R.R. 22, Box 31, 
Terre Haute, IN 47802. 




3M DISKETTES . . . $20.95 

Box of 10 5.25" SS/DD/RH diskettes for Ap- 
ple. Ship in 24 hrs. Check/MC/Visa. $2 ship- 
ping. Order now! Cactus Computer, 3090 E. 
Palouse River Dr., Sp305, Moscow, ID 83843; 
(208) 882-8603. 

VERBATIM DISKS 

5.25" SS/DD $218/100; 5.25" DS/DD 
$320/100; Flip 'N' Sort (75 capacity) $19.95; 
Library Case $2.50 each. Free Brochure. Unik 
Associates, 12545 W. Burleigh, Brookfield, WI 
53005; (414) 782-5030. 




Easy-View, 

Disk File Work Station 

• Stores 100 Disks, Dust Free 

• 25 Disk Titles Clearly Visible 

• Fast, Easy Access, Stackable 

• Top Flips Back, Locks Upright 

$Q95 AddSI SO 
%J Postage & Handling 

Cash. check or M O NoCOD s 

RULE ONE 

42 Oliver Slreel Depl S, Newark, N.J 07105 



SOFTALK CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING 



FREE7DISKETTES 



SAVE MONEY ! Apple II */e users can use the 
diskette flip side, if another "write enable' 
notch is correctly made. 

The DISK NOTCHED by QUORUM 
quickly SOLVES that PROBLEM. 
It's like FREE DISKETTES! 
Stainless Steel Guide 
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• Get THE BEST' 




Certifix 



BE SAFE ! Your FREE' disk is CERTIFIED 
100% ERROR FREE with CERTIFIX by 
QUORUM It LOCKS OUT' DISK FLAWS and 
lets you use the rest. Displays status 
report & saves it to disk. Next, CERTIFIX 
automatically formats then offers to initialize 
with genuine Apple DOS 3.3 too Great for 
testing economy disks. CERTIFY. FIX & 
INITIALIZE every disk with CERTIFIX ! 

100% %onq 7*>ack SaUijactm GcwMtee / 
DISK NOTCHER is $14.95 
CERTIFIX'" is just $24.95 
ONLY $29.95 for BOTH! 
Add $1 50 s/h • CA add 6V? % tax 



QUORUM INT€RNRTIONfll, Unltd. 

INDUSTRIAL STATION P O BOX 2134- ST 
OAKLAND. CA 94614 



FIX YOUR APPLE H/H + 

APPLE CHIPS™ Kits provide step-by-step in- 
struction manual and IC chips so anyone can fix 
most system failures. Kit contains at least one of 
every IC (except 6502 & ROMs). Motherboard 
Chip Kit $49.95. Disk U Chip Kit $34.95. Com- 
bination Motherboard & Disk $79.95. Add $2 
shipping/order. Send check to Apple-Dayton, 
Inc., Box 1666, Fairborn, OH 45324. OH res. 
add 5.5% tax. Or call (513) 879-5895. MC/Visa 
accepted. 

SUPPLIES 

PRICES REDUCED!! 
RIBBONS-Apple DMP/C. Itoh/NEC 8023 
$4.29. Epson MX-70/80 $3.85. STORAGE 
UNIT-75 capacity $15.75/10 capacity $1.49. 
For price list call (415) 778-2595 or write: 
Argonaut Dist., 1104 Buchanan Rd. ST A., An- 
tioch, CA 94509. 

EXTRA FONTS for FONT DOWN 
LOADER by MICRO WARE. Five new 
beautiful fonts on disk for only $9.95 plus $1 
shipping. Free sample printout on request. Send 
check to FONTWARE, Box 423, Massillon, 
OH 44648. 

ELEPHANT FLOPPY DISKS 

Box of ten 5.25" SS/SD, w/hub rings, quality 
guaranteed for a lifetime of heavy duty use. 
$20/box postage paid! MC/Visa, checks, MO 
welcome. AZ. res. add 5% sales tax. DATA 
BYTE, 2361 Tee Dr., Lake Havasu, AZ 86403; 
(602) 855-1592. 



3M SCOTCH 

DISKETTES $20.50 
Authorized 3M distributor. Buy wholesale 
5.25" SS/DD $20.50. DS/DD $25.50. Prompt 
delivery! For price list call (415) 778-2595 or 
write: Argonaut Dist., 1104 Buchanan Rd. 
STA., Antioch, C A 94509. 

APPLE JOYSTICKS. 

End of 1983 production year close-out sale on 
joysticks for Apple II, II + , lie. High quality, 
with 2 pushbuttons and self-centering stick. 
(Self-centering springs are easily removed and 
replaced.) Cost $22.95 + $2.35 postage and 
handling per unit. Vermont residents add 4% 
sales tax. Bernard Kessler & Associates, Box 
568, Colchester, VT 05446. 

64K/128K RAMDRTVE He. 

RAMDRTVE He is the best disk emulation for 
64K or 128K extended 80-column cards. Sup- 
ports DOS 3.3, Apple Pascal 1.1, and 128K 
PRODOS/RAM! Features access indicators, 
DOS speedup, and disk copy utility. Not pro- 
tected! Separate CP/M version (thru 2.23) avail- 
able. $29.95. Precision Software, 6514 N. Fres- 
no St., Milwaukee, WI 53224; (414) 353-1666. 

$AVE Z-80 PRO! $99.95 $AVE 

Amazingly low introductory price, the Z-80 
PRO! is the one for you. Totally compatible 
with all CP/M software and Microsoft disks (no 
pre-boot necessary). Specifically designed for 
operation in the Apple II + , He, and Franklin. 
Immediate delivery and 6-month Money Back 
Guarantee If Not Completely Satisfied. Send 
$99.95 to: Computer Accessories & Training, 
2120 Turner Rd., Richmond, VA 23225. 



SAVE ON 5V4" SSDD DISKS! 

Verbatim = $2\l\0\ $205/100. 
Datalife = $26. 50110; $250/100. All w/sleeves. 
Add $2 shipping/10; $6/100. IL res. +7%. 
Shipped in 48 hrs. HELSINGOR INC., 1402 
Lama Ln., Mt. Prospect, IL 60056. 

CHECK OUR PRICES 

Double your disk capacity! Our rugged ETC- 
501 DISKNOTCHER aligns and cleanly cuts 
another write-enable notch to turn your SS 5.25" 
disk into a double-sided. Value priced, only 
$9.95 + $1.50 shipping. Protect your valuable 
disks with the DATA SAFE, durable flip file 
storage for 50 disks. Only $15.95 + $2.50 
shipping. Send orders to: Jacobson Industries, 
Box 96, Hollister, CA 95024. (In CA, please 
add6%.) 

DATABIND: RING NOTEBOOKS 

New! Designed to FIT TRACTOR FEED PA- 
PER! No more stripping or punching holes. 
DATABINDS are sturdy, attractive, vinyl- 
covered, office-quality notebooks. Large 
capacity 1 W metal rings are cleverly spaced to 
fit paper fan-folded or sideways. Black, brown, 
blue, green, or orange. $6 each, set of 5/$26. 
Add $2 shpg/order. DATABIND, Box D, 
Margate, NJ 08402. 




DOG$ 

Greyhound Handicapping Tutorial 
Three menu-driven, multifactor systems. 
Modeling Coefficients to meet YOUR needs. 
Apple B $39. TOUT Co., Box 3145, Pomona, 
CA 91769. 

WIN$$ CRAP$ WIN$$ 

Crapshooting Tutorial 
Skill-building exercises, tests, systems, & 
simulations. Apple 11 + , He disk. $39 incl. tax. 
TOUT Co., Box 3145, Pomona, CA 91769. 

HO$$ 

Thoroughbred Handicapping Tutorial 
Five menu-driven, multifactor systems. Model- 
ing Coefficients to meet YOUR needs. Apple H, 
$89. TOUT Co. , Box 3 145, Pomona, CA 91769. 

HOME ADDRESS BOOK 

New improved version 7! Keeps names, ad- 
dresses, phone numbers, birthdays, anniver- 
saries, & much more. 32 items for 402 families. 
Reports are: ADDRESS BOOK, PHONE LIST, 
DATE CALENDAR, MAILING LABELS, 
etc. Easy to usel Unlocked. For 11+ or e 
(w/64K). Satisfaction guaranteed! $19.95. 
Ck/MC/Visa to OPT-SYSTEMS, 2109 W. 
Edgewood Dr., Jefferson City, MO 65101. 

FLOWERS - PFS - USERS 

Computer Guide to Annuals and Perennials. 
Plan your flower garden from PFS "DATA" 
disk. Apple H/IIe $19.95. S&J Software, 7614 
Highland St., Springfield, VA 22150. 

GOLF LEAGUE MANAGER 

Handles the record keeping, calculating, and re- 
port writing of the golf league secretary. In- 
itializes to your league stats. Flex. hep choices. 
File editor. Includes auto schedule generator. 
Applesoft or Pascal. Send $50 to TOMSOFT, 
32007 Claeys, Warren, MI 48093. 

I CHING DISK * DICE DISK 

BRAND NEW!!:The I CHING in modern im- 
agery!!! Complete, easily understandable, in- 
sightful. / Ching Oracle Disk for APPLE U se- 
ries (48K) just $59.95 (includes shipping and 
sales tax). ALSO available: < < < STARS 
AND DICE DISK> > > . Combines astrology 
and dice in modern imagery to answer your per- 
sonal questions. GREAT FUN!!! Just $29.95 
complete. SEND YOUR CHECK TODAY to 
FRANK KEGAN, Box 8513, EMERYVILLE, 
CA 94662. 

MAGIC RECIPE FILE 

Put an end to lost recipes and dirty cookbooks! 
Easy entry of your recipes on a U+/IIe. Look at 
recipes on the screen or print 1 or more, then off 
to the kitchen! View or print listings of recipes. 
Users guide designed for new computer users (1 
or 2 drives). $15.95 + $2. post (CA + 6Vi%). 
Check or MO. PCS, 99 E. Middlefield Rd., #9, 
Mountain View, CA 94043. 



COMPUTER ROAD ATLAS 




TAKE TRIPS WITH COMPUTER 
LISTINGS SHOWING THE 
BEST ROUTE 



Enter departing city and destination city. ROADSEARCH- 
PLUS computes and prints the best route with miles, 
time and fuel. Add up to 50 USA/CANADA cities to the 
original 406. DOS 3.3. Unlocked. 15 day Moneyback 
Guarantee. $74.95 ($34.95 with non-expandable data- 
base). Add $1 .50 S/H. Check/Visa/MC. At your dealer or. 

Columbia Software 

Box 2235 Z, Columbia, MD 21045 
(301)997-3100 



Play STRIP BLACKJACK 
with 'CHYRL' 

Watch CHYRL or one of her 4 female or 2 male 
friends TAKE IT ALL OFF. In hi-res and color 
% sound. $29.95 for 2 disk set, add $2 P&H. 
Many others, see Mar' 84 ST pg 221 for INFO. 
Send SASE: SANSOFT PLUS, Box 590228, 
Houston, TX 77259-0228. Visa or MC, Check, 
COD. Weshipfast. (713)482-6898 ANYTIME. 

SPORTS FANS!! 

The Sports Trax Series tracks player and team 
stats as well as league standings during a season. 
Enter game results for each player and the pro- 
gram automatically updates totals, averages, 
and standings. Each disk can store eight leagues 
of eight teams each. Can be used to track ama- 
teur leagues as well as sports simulations, such 
as Strato-Matic or APBA. Sports now available 
are: *Baseball/Softball *Soccer 
♦Basketball *Hockey 
Select the sport and send $24.95 to: FJ VOSS, 
459 Sierra Vista Ln. , Valley Cottage, NY 10989. 

FREE CATALOG 
1984 ERGONOMIC 
COMPUTER FURNITURE 

Designs for home from over 20 national mfgrs. 
Discounts * Never A shipping Charge * Visa 
MC. INTERIOR DESIGN SYSTEMS, 
MasterCharge * Interior Design Systems, 3641-S 
St. Mary's PI. NW, Washington, DC 20007. 

COMPUTER FOR TODDLERS 

This unique kaleidoscopic game of color and 
classical music is for ages 6 months to adult. For 
Silicon Valley kids. Send $19. 95 to Byte-Omega, 
695 Torrington Dr., Sunnyvale, CA 94087. 



Home-Arcade 



GAMES $2.50 

The New Foxxivision Demo Disk is packed on 
both sides with quality entertainment, graphics 
and games!!! We have the lowest prices 
anywhere. Send $2.50 to Foxxivision Inc., 
28090 Tavistock, Southfield, MI 48034 or send 
for our free brochure] ! ! 

GRAPHICS GAME $4.95 

Announcing the greatest price break in Apple 
games history!!! Five new, original, enjoyable 
games for everyone in the family. Great 
graphics, animation, machine language speed, 
& superb playability. Send $4.95 to Foxxivision 
Inc., 28090 Tavistock, Southfield, MI 48034. 
Extremely fast & reliable delivery! 



HOME RUN BASEBALL $5.95 

Smash a homer in Foxxivision's new hi-res 
baseball game! Complete with super graphics 
and machine language speed. Foxxivision Inc., 
28090 Tavistock, Southfield, MI 48034. 



Home Education 



BD3LE STUDY 

CROSS WORD— Study, quiz, or just fun! 36 
crossword puzzles with scriptural quotes, ques- 
tions, hints, and answers. Create your own 
puzzles or change existing ones. Send for free 
description or $39.95 ( + 6% CA). VISION 
SOFTWARE, Box 11131, Costa Mesa, CA 
92627; (714) 642-3255 (Apple n + , He.) 

S.A.T. MATH, GRAPHICS 

S.A.T.-MATH: 5-part Test/Instruction Set: 
Algebra, Geometry, Logic, etc. (Includes 
Geometry on the hi-res screen) - $24.95. Also 
BUSINESS/SCIENCE GRAPHICS: Data crea- 
tion, handling, graphing; all menu-driven; pie, 
bar, linear charts (B&W); auto-scaling; make 
hard copy (specify printer) - $14.95. 64K Apple 
II+/IIe. Reitz Video Products, Box 82, Dear- 
born, MI 48121. 

DRUG INFORMATION PROGRAMS 

Educational programs for the home and Drug 
Interaction programs for the health professional. 
For complete information please write: 
MEDICAL WATCH SOFTWARE 
1620 Ensenada Dr., Modesto, CA 95355. 

CHILDS POISON PREVENTION 

By Richard Voigt MD, In Depth Poisoning is a 
program for anyone who cares for children. 
3-week money -back guarantee. Apple 11+ /He. 
48K $39.95 + $2.50 shipping. Health Ed Soft- 
ware, Box 1209, Fairfield, IA 52556. Upcom- 
ing topic Headaches. MC/Visa. 

FREE!! SOFTWARE CATALOG 

Nearly a thousand items, mostly education, for 
grades K-12. Largely APPLE but other popular 
machines represented as well. Write EAV Inc., 
Pleasantville, NY 10570 or call toll free: (800) 
431-2196. 

GUARANTEED SOFTWARE 

Documented public-domain software, send 
SASE for list. Teacher's Gradebook 2.0, $25. 
Loan Schedule, $50. Celestial Software, 749 N. 
Clarkson, Fremont, NE 68025. 

CONNOISSEUR COMPETITION 

CONNOISSEUR COMPETITION. A fun pro- 
gram that allows a statistical comparison to be 
made between brand preferences and actual 
tasting preferences. Can be used with a group or 
individual. A good party program. Printer out- 
put is optional. Results saved to disk. $19.95. 
Requires Apple 11+ /Be and 1 drive. TW2 Con- 
sulting, Box 1074, Eagar, AZ 85925. 



MULTI-LINGUAL SOFTWARE 

For Spanish, French, German, and other lan- 
guages. No extra hardware required. Apple 
11 + /lie. Word processor and educational pro- 
grams. Free catalog. Le Professeur, 959 NW 
53rd St., Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33309; (305) 
771-6498. 

THE COLLEGE GRADE BOOK 

You enter test (assgnmt) score - It gives percent, 
grade, and "to date" grade, percent, and point 
total. You select % cutoff levels. Four different 
hard-copy printouts (1 to post selected results). 
Sorts & Searches on all fields. Primarily used 
w/up to 15 grade entries/semester. $25. L.F. 
Gaither, 3738 Thesta, Fresno, CA 93726; (209) 
227-1349. 

LEARN COMPUTER PROGRAMMING 
with the Apple's Core for beginners $49.95. 
To learn more advanced programming, order 
Part II: The Seed $59.95. Each program, con- 
tains 2 teaching disks + an instructional man- 
ual. Add $2 for shipping. Send check/MO 
(COD accepted). Le Professeur, 959 NW 53rd 
St., Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33309; (305) 771-6498. 

MIKE O'TUTOR 

Your own private tutor with the artificial in- 
telligence to help you study any subject. You 
provide the content. Mike O'Tutor helps you 
study and makes up questions. Send $49.95 to 
WilloughbyWare, RR 1, Box 304, Centerview, 
MO 64019; (816) 732-5787. 

ARENA! test your skill in the ARENA. A hi- 
res assembly language aracade game. Don't let 
the enemy (Fuzzy, Polly, Fuzzy jr.) get 
through; each time you do, PULSAR, the mas- 
ter will send out a mine to increase the hazards 
of the ARENA. Your weapon is a single con- 
trol, four-gun surround for Apple II, II + , 
IIe/48K, DOS 3.3 (requires joystick or paddle). 
$29.95 postpaid to BORDER SOFTWARE, 
BOX 66973, Ste. 1153, Houston, TX 77006. 
Dealer inquiries welcome. 



Publications 



MINUTE MANUALS 

Minute Manual for Apple Writer He $7.95 
Minute Manual for Apple Writer n+ $7.95 
Apple Writer Glossary Disk $14.95 
Minute Manual for DB Master (Ver 3) $12.95 
Data Disks (2) for MM for DB Master $9.95 
Minute Manual for PFS: File/Report/Graph/ 
Write (avail, this month) $12.95 
Send check and add $1 S/H; (301) 995-1166 
MinuteWare, Box 2392, Columbia, MD 21045. 

WHAT'S YOUR TIME WORTH? 

Only $30/yr for source, brief abstract of thou- 
sands of Apple II-relevant magazine refs from 
USA, UK, Australia. Categorized and listed by 
key words. Airmail update SIX times a year. 
Articles, Utes, Progs, Reviews, etc, etc. THIS 
WILL PLEASE THE SERIOUS USER. Send 
$30 (U.S. or Australian) bank draft to 
Daryl's Apple Digest, 26 Parslow St., Malvern, 
Vic. 3144 Australia; tel +61-3-20-5950. 



SOFTALK CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING 



$2.95 HINT BOOKS. Coded clues, 
maps, solutions: Quest, Infidel, Death Carib, 
Witnes, Deadlin, Starcros, Transyl, Drk Crys, 
Masquerad, Covet Mirr, Planetfall, Serp Star, 
Ultma III, Suspended. All Zorks, Coloss Cave, 
Enchanter, Sherwood, Mask Sun, Cranstn 
Manor, Missn Astr, Softporn, Voodoo Cstl, Mys 
House, Ulyses, Pirat Adv, Advland, or send 20C 
stamp for free clue no oblig. Aspen Apple Soft- 
ware, Dept S, Box 1962, Boulder, CO 80306. 

MINUTE MANUAL For PFS: 
FILE/REPORT/GRAPH/WRITE 

Explains this integrated software system for 
those who have one or more of these programs 
and for those who want to find out about them. 
Quick guide to over 50 step-by-step procedures. 
Two tutorials for business and education. Many 
procedures not found in original manual. $12.95 
+ $1. MinuteWare, Box 2392, Columbia, MD 
21045. 

"SCREEN WRITER II MADE EASY" 
"APPLE WRITER II MADE EASY" 
"APPLE WRITER II 
(for the lie) MADE EASY" 

20 page "plain English" booklets. Formletters 
included. Learn to use in one sitting. Specify. 
Send $5.95 each post-paid (check or MO) to J. 
Mandell, Box 7063, Charlottesville, VA 22906. 




TIRED OF YOUR BORING GAMES? 

Have you ever wished you could get rid of them 
and trade them in for one of your favorites? 
Well, your dreams have been answered! Write 
to us requesting free information about our 
game trading. United Apple Game Trades, Box 
73-9, Long Beach, CA 90808. 

APPLE GAME DISK EXCHANGE 

Adventure games are great until solved. Arcade 
games can become stale. Now exchange your 
unwanted games for ones you would like to 
play. WRITE FOR INFORMATION or SEND 
your original manufacturer's disk, documenta- 
tion, a list of five games for us to make your ex- 
change from, and $5.50 to: 

National Home Computer Game Exchange 
Box 20285, Columbus, OH 43220. 

**$1.00— FREE!!! 

When you call 
(219) 534-1012 

Hoosier Software 
Box 275, Goshen, IN 46526 

THE LOWEST PRICES! 

The lowest prices on games like Zaxxon and 
Lode Runner. Also Mazetron for $11 .95. We 
have it all. For games and price list write to 
P-Soft, Box 354, El Segundo, CA 90245. 

DISK EXCHANGE SERVICE 

Not using that Utility? Tired of that Game? Ex- 
change it! Send MANUFACTURER'S ORIGI- 
NAL disk, instructions, etc. No duplicated disk 
or photocopies accepted. Send disk with three to 
five acceptable exchanges of equal dollar value 
along with $6. postage and handling to 
DES 

Box 864930, Piano, TX 75086. 



SAVE UP TO 50% ON 

Floppy Disks 
& Computer 
Supplies 



we Discount the Top Brands 
3M-Scotch • verbatim* 
Memorex • BASF • Maxell- 



wabash 

error-free 
diskettes 

$16.50/10 sssd 

APPLE * DISK DRIVES 

0ATADRIVE $ 2 2 9 

APPLETTE I & II 

(UTILIZES V2 HT DRIVES) 

The Best In Price, 
Selection and Delivery 

SAKATA 13"0olor Monitor with 

full-year warranty ... ^239 
Apple PARALLEL PRINTER CARD 

w/ 2-yr . warranty ,10' cable- ^49 
KOALA PAD w/Illustrator . . . ^79 JM 

Gold Disk 



GOLD DISK*" Software 
Box 102 

Qlen Arm, Md. 21057 
TOLL FREE i-aoo-36e-22eo FfeQ Ca 

For specific software no! listed, 
CALL 1-800-368-2260 

- 

TransPak I -;p299 

lran^enu it. 



TOLL FREE ORDER 

1-600- 368 2260 (In Maryland. Call 592-^949) 





.■ 

; Pen System tor 
§ Apple II Computers 



SUPER SOFTWARE SAVINGS 

Dollars & Sense - $69.95 
MasterType - $29.95 
HomeWord - $49.95 
PFS:File - $86.95 
For a complete catalog of personal and small 
business computer software and hardware at ex- 
cellent prices, write: SBCC, Box 1191, Thou- 
sand Oaks, CA 91360; (805) 492-9391. 
Service Is Our Motto! 

SOFTWARE SPECIALS! 

Krell Logo Koala Pad 

Word Attack! Think Tank 

New Step by Step Enchanter 
Just a sample of the over 50 programs on special 
this month. All our other programs are at low, 
low prices too. Call or write for our free price 
list. Educators— ask for our special education 
edition. Bytes & Pieces, Box 525, Dept. S, East 
Setauket, NY 11733; (516) 751-2535. 

SOFTWARE JUNKIE?? 

RENT today's most popular software: recrea- 
tional and educational. Buy at 20% discount. 
FREE brochure. The Soft Source-R Inc., Dept. 
J, Box 2931, Joliet, IL 60434. 

WE CAN'T AFFORD A BIG AD 

Because we're keeping our overhead low so 
you'll get the cheapest software prices. Write 
for our free catalog. Alligator Enterprises, 1 105 
Alameda, TX 78704; (512) 443-2621. 



SAVE AT GOLEM COMPUTERS 

Our **SOFTWARE** prices are lowest. We 
carry business, education, and entertainment 
software. All major brands are available. Call 
for **FREE** catalog. (800) 345-8112. In 
Pennsylvania (800) 662-2444. 



LOW SOFTWARE PRICES! 

Check our fantastic prices! Write for our 
**FREE** price list! KERR SOFTWARE, box 
5301-ST, Long Beach, CA 90805; (213) 428- 
8193. Source: CL0854. 

CANADIAN SOFTWARE RENTALS 

RENT APPLE software including top selling 
business programs and games. Rental is for a 
2-WEEK period and prices are approx. 1/5 of 
retail. For free catalog write: BIG BLUE SOFT- 
WARE RENTALS (Canada), Box 15896 Sta- 
tion F, Ottawa, Ont K2C 3S8. 




TEXT FILE TUTORIAL 

Step-by-step disk-based intro to sequential text 
files on any Apple II. Teaches you to read, 
write, use, EXEC. $25 (CA add tax). Send 
check to Computer Explanations, 2438 La Con- 
desa Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90049. 



!! C COMPILER !! 

A Compiler for only $49.95!! 
Includes macro preprocessor, conditional com- 
pilation, and more. . . . Major subset of C (no reals 
or structures). Operates under Apple Pascal 1.1 
(not included). Order today. Send $49.95 + $3 
P&H to THUNDER SOFTWARE, Box 31501, 
Houston, TX 77231; (713) 728-5501. 



PASCAL 1.1/1.2 GOODIES 

For the 11+ /lie: Program a key to type several 
characters (function keys), use your APPLE 
while it is printing (spooler), send what you see 
on the screen to a file. $27.95. For the He: Turn 
the extended 80-column card into a fast 126- 
block RAMDISK drive, $19.95. Source in- 
cluded! David Neves, 2801 Monroe St., -2e, 
Madison, WI 53711; (608) 238-0020. 

ASSYST: ASSEMBLER SYSTEM 

Only $23.50. This mnemonic assembler is the 
one for you! Free field programming, two pass 
RAM/DISK assembly. A complete system w/24 
p. book, screen style text editor, lister utility and 
the assembler. Menu-driven. All for only 
$23.50 + $3 P&H. Same-day shipping. Apple 
II family 48K. Thunder Software, Box 31501, 
Houston, TX 77231; (713) 728-5501. Order to- 
day. C COMPILER for Apple Pascal $49.95. 

Softalk's classified advertising section offers 
a considerably less expensive way than normal 
display advertising to reach tens of thousands of 
Apple owners. 

Classified advertising space is available at 
the rate of $10 per line for the first ten lines, 
with a five-line minimum. Each line over ten 
lines is $25 per line. 

Heads will be set in 10-point boldface, all 
capitals only. Italics are available for body text 
only; please underline the portions you would 
like italicized. 

The body text of the ad will hold roughly 45 
characters per line. Spaces between words are 
counted as one character. Heads will hold 
roughly 24 characters per line, with spaces be- 
tween words counted as one character. Please 
indicate if you would like the head centered or 
run into the text. 

Display advertising may be placed in the 
classified section at $100 per column inch; no 
advertising agency commisions shall be granted 
on such advertising. Ads must be black and 
white, may be no larger than Vi -page, and must 
fit within the three-column format. 

Ad copy for classified ads and camera-ready 
art for classified display advertising should be 
received no later than the 10th of the second 
month prior to the cover date of the issue in 
which you want the ad to appear. Payment must 
accompany ad copy or art. 

Please call or write for additional infor- 
mation. 

Softalk Classified Advertising 
7250 Laurel Canyon Boulevard 
Box 60 

North Hollywood, CA 91603 
Attention: Linda McGuire Carter 
(213) 980-5074 



DMP Utilities 



" ... does what Apple should have done for the DMP a year ai>o. "(Somuc, Ke» 

• 24 custom fonts for your Apple DMP " or Imagewriter "printer. 

• Full featured font editor supports proportional and variable width characters. 

• User friendly selection of all printer features plus 60 page manual 



$50 from your dealer or postage paid directly from us. Write for full hardware 
character fonts, and additional information. 

Apple Dot Matrix Printer. Imagewriter, and Apple are trademarks o* Apple Computer, Inc 



ist, examples of 



Vilbcrg Brothers Computing, PO Box 79, Mt. Horeb, WI 53572 

(608) S74-6433 evenings or CompuServe 73765,124 



SUPER TRACER II 

A step-and-trace utility for Applesoft Basic. 
Traces and displays actual statements and varia- 
bles of programs while they are running. Com- 
pletely transparent; does not interfere with 
graphics, text display, DOS, or I/O commands. 
$44.95. Nordic Software Inc., 4910 Dudley, 
Lincoln, NE 68504; (402) 466-6502. Visa/MC 
accepted. 

PASCAL TEXT FORMATTER 

Turn your UCSD Pascal Editor into a full-blown 
professional word processor/report writer simi- 
lar to the famous UNIX™ NROFF utility. 
Justifies, centers text; multiline headers and 
footers; automatic page and section numbering, 
table of contents, and index generation. Not 
copy protected! Send $85 (or Visa/MC) to DIG- 
ITRY COMPANY, INC., 266 River Rd., 
Edgecomb, ME 04556. 

NO MORE POKE 33,33 

With DOS command EDIT, list any line, cursor 
jumps to line number ready for editing. This and 
many other DOS UTILITIES— change DOS 
commands, free space on disk, auto patch to 
DOS, INIT new DOS to other disks without 
erasing, more. Also DISK-ZAP: read/write any 
sector, CAT-ZAP: restore deleted files, more. 
For n+ (48K) or He, $19.95. University Micro 
Software, Box 723, Natick, MA 01760. 

MATRIX II 

Solve complex problems efficiently, and save 
programming time! Adds fast matrix functions 
to Applesoft: multiply, INV, DET, TRN, SYS, 
& more. Easy to use. MATRIX II disk, tutorial 
manual, & demo programs, $19.95. Apple 
H+/48K or Be, DOS 3.3. LRS Systems, 810 N. 
Seventh St., St. Charles, MO 63301. 

ADVANCED PASCAL USERS! 

Assembly Libraries: for Videx Videoterm & Ul- 
traterm (all modes); at, set cursor, & attributes, 
fielded screen reads, echo, rdscreen, slot3 . . . 
EXTENSIONS: Str2int, xlate, verify, strip, addr, 
word/byte peek/poke. Generalized QUICKSORT! 
MORE . . . $40. For complete desc. send SASE 
to RTSoftware, Box 674, Columbia, MD 21045. 



UTILITY MAGICIAN 

40 Programs/60 cents each. Change DOS com- 
mands. Alphabetize the catalog. Autonumber 
programs. Graphically display disk space use. 
Recover deleted files. Compact disk files to save 
space. Read, write, & edit disk contents. 32 
other essential tools. PLUS a complete text file 
and program line editor and a chart of 100 + 
peeks, pokes, & calls. $24 postage paid. Kodiak 
Associates, Box 2731, Decatur, AL 35602. 



E-Z MENU MAKER 

This is the best menu generator money can buy . 
Make custom menus for all your DOS 3.3 disks 
in seconds. E-Z MENU MAKER will generate 
sorted menus from the disk catalog automatical- 
ly. Upon booting, the menu will run, brun, or 
exec any program with the touch of a key. Pro- 
gram with instruction booklet is only $14.95. 
NM res add 5 % tax. Send check or M/O to: 
TIPS, Box 312-A, Hobbs, NM 88240. 

CAULDRON LINE EDITOR 

*Edit Applesoft programs fast 
*User-modifiable keyboard macros 

♦Global search and replace 
♦Supports Apple n + , Be, Be 80-col. 
Send $19.95 to Cauldron, Box 8227, S.M., KS 
66208 (Kansas residents add $.91 sales tax). 

FREE PASCAL CATALOG 

Catalog of LOW cost ($5-$20) utilities. All with 
SOURCE text. Includes print, file, input, sort, 
& others. Kingdom Computer Concepts, Box 
182, St. Johnsbury Ctr., VT 05863. 



Word Processing 



APPLE WRITER GLOSSARY DISK 

Contains glossary files for Epson MX/FX, 
Gemini 10/10X, Apple DMP/Imagewriter, 
NEC, Prowriter, and Okidata. Access any print 
command in Apple Writer 11+ or He with a 
single keystroke. Underlining and superscripts 
on Epson MX and Gemini, also Sub/Super- 
scripts on Apple DMP $14.95 + $1 S/H. 
MinuteWare, Box 2392, Columbia, MD 21045. 

EPSON FX-80 GLOSSARY 
FOR APPLE WRITER He 

Confused about getting all the FX-80 print op- 
tions to work when using Apple Writer Ilel Our 
EPSON GLOSSARY makes it easy! Just load 
the file and use a 1 -character command. Quality 
disk comes with a glossary, sample AWII files, 
manual, and free AWIIe "Cheat Sheet." $14.95 
+ $1 shipping. (NYS sales add sales tax). 
AEROCAL, Box 799, Huntington, NY 11743. 

PROWRITER FONT GLOSSARY 
FOR APPLE WRITER H/He 

Control all the functions of your Prowriter, in- 
cluding: double width, boldface, underline, 
pica, elite, proportional compressed, super- 
script, subscript. Use in any combination, 
easily. $9.95— comes on disk, with complete in- 
structions. Nerdworks, 195 23rd NE, Salem, 
OR 97301; (503) 585-1373. 




MAY 1984 



tion sounded a lot more impressive than man- 
ual. "Doc-yoo-men-tay-shun," he thought. 
"Man-yoo-al. " Hmm. Five syllables versus 
three. Better check this one out. Here's what he 
heard: 

"One of the most powerful features of Docu- 
Writer is that it allows the user to move blocks 
of text around the document at the touch of a 
key. Of course, we at DocuSoft realize that 
everyone is different, so that's why we made 
each command key customizable by the user. 
Now, it may take a little getting used to, but I 
assure you that DocuWriter is state-of-the-art 
word processing, offers ease of use, and is ex- 
tremely user-friendly . ' ' 

The man walked away from this booth, too. 
DocuWriter obviously wasn't for him. Based on 
what the salesman said, it was probably for law- 
yers, politicians, and government workers, 
whose everyday work involves documents. It 
probably wasn't for people who write letters, 
school papers, business reports, and office 
memorandums. Or was it? 

Was there something magical about this 
word processor that could turn a letter into a 
document? He thought about it for a while. 

"Whatcha doing, honey?" 

"Oh, just writing a document to mom. She 
says she just loves receiving documents from 
me." 

"How nice. That reminds me, did you see 
the nice thank-you document we received from 
the Gilmours? They said the blender we gave 
them for their wedding had great ease of use." 

Maybe he didn't need such a program. On 
the other hand, if it did create documents, he 
wouldn't need a lawyer anymore; he could just 
boot up the program, and presto: documents. 

If nothing else, at least it was end user- 
friendly. He surmised that the term meant 
"friendly to the user." What if a nonuser came 
along and tried to run the program? That would 
be a sight; friendly to one person, hostile and 
belligerent to the next. None of this mattered, 
though. He wasn't a user. If he were, he'd still 
be back at the MondoSoft booth. 

Across the aisle was a tiny booth that didn't 
seem to be displaying any software, but little 



Communications 

The Stating 
of the Art: 
A User-Friendly 
Document 

Manufacturers producing floppies and friendly 
documentation for usering often access confusing on 
the way to ease of use. 



At the West Coast Computer Faire last 
March, a man stopped at one of the booths and 
asked about the word processor on display. 
Here's what he was told. 

"One of the most powerful features of Mon- 
doWriter is that it allows the user to move 
blocks of text around the document at the touch 
of a key. Of course, we at MondoSoft realize 
that everyone is different, so that's why we 
made each command key customizable by the 
user. Now, it may take a little getting used to, 
but I assure you that MondoWriter is state-of- 
the-art word processing, offers ease of use, and 
is extremely user-friendly . ' ' 

The man, who happened to be a human be- 
ing and wished to remain one, walked away. He 
didn't walk away because he was insulted or in- 
timidated. He walked away because the product 
was obviously not for him. It was for something 
called a user. Whatever a user was, certainly he 
was not one. The word sounded like it meant 
"something that uses." 

Last winter, the man's daughter was used by 
some cradle robber at her high school. On pub- 
lic television the night before, there was a spe- 
cial about cocaine users. And that day, the man 
could have used his car to get to the Faire, but 
he drove it instead; otherwise, it might have 
turned into a used car when he arrived. Nope, 
he wasn't a user. 

User isn't an insulting term, just an awk- 
ward one. Computer enthusiasts don't often call 



themselves users, but they don't mind being re- 
ferred to as such. Computer clubs have names 
like Mid Valley Apple Users Group, but you 
don't hear people in singles bars say, "No kid- 
ding, you're a user? Wow, I'm a user, too! Kar- 
ma." They'll usually say something just as bad: 
"I'm into computers," which ranks up there 
with "I'm into aerobics. " (If a person who uses 
computers is a user, does that mean a person 
who does aerobics is a doer? Ugh.) 

It's understandable for computer hobbyists 
to call themselves users. But what is it that 
makes writers of software manuals fall in love 
with the word? There must be some inherent 
satisfaction in writing sentences like, "The 
function keys are user-definable," instead of 
"You can change the function keys." 

On top of all this are the hardware and soft- 
ware producers who refer to their customers as 
end users. They never do say who the front, be- 
ginning, or middle users are. But that's okay, 
just as long as their products are end user-de- 
finable or end user-friendly. Which brings us 
back to our man at the Faire. 

MondoSoft wasn't satisfied with having a 
product that was easy to use; its software devel- 
opers added a feature to boast the fact— ease of 
use. The man visiting the booth assumed this 
meant the program wasn't hard to use. The 
toaster he bought the other day wasn't hard to 
use either, but it didn't have ease of use. A 
smart shopper would have noticed that immedi- 
ately and looked for a toaster that had it. It was 
hard for the man to believe that some software 
had ease of use, while nothing else had diffi- 
culty of use. "Ease of use," he mumbled to 
himself. If a product didn't feature those three 
words, it wasn't worth buying. 

At the next booth the man met a slick- 
looking salesman with a forty-dollar haircut, 
nice shoes, and a suit that was cut too big. 

"If you have any questions," the salesman 
said, "just take a look at our user-friendly docu- 
mentation." There was that word again. 

Now the man was confused. All the software 
he had at home came with manuals. Here was 
one that actually had documentation. He wasn't 
sure what the difference was, but documenta- 



wooden boxes instead. This looked like a safe 
booth to visit. 

"Hi, we're Disk Philes, and we manufac- 
ture storage boxes for your floppies. Each box 
accommodates up to thirty floppies and can be 
expanded to hold increments of fifteen flop- 
pies." 

So much for safe. Whatever a floppy was, 
he didn't have any. He had floppy disks, but 
nothing called floppies. Only later did he realize 
the woman at the booth meant floppy disk when 
she said floppy. He didn't need such a box, but 
it did remind him to pick up some legals and 
scratches from the stationery store on his way 
home. May as well get some fountains, felts, 
and ballpoints that write in erasable, too. 

The man avoided entirely the Word-for- 
Word booth, which was exhibiting diskettes. He 
didn't need any diskettes, because he didn't 



have a diskette drivette. Diskettes, he figured, 
must have gotten their name because they're 
smaller than industrial-sized eight-inch disks. 
So what does that make the 3 1/2-inch ones that 
go with Apple's Macintosh? Diskettettes? 

It was time to go. On the way out, the man 
was stopped by someone handing out pamphlets 
describing a "new state-of-the-art product." 
Thank goodness for that. If there's anything the 
computer world doesn't need, it's old state-of- 
the-art products. Maybe that should be former 
state of the art or state of the old art. Most of the 
exhibitors at the Faire said their products were 
state of the art. If that were true, every product 
would 've been as good as every other one. And 
that obviously wasn't true. 

According to the person handing out the 
pamphlets, the product was a "state-of-the-art 
business package" that offered spreadsheet, da- 



tabase, and word processing capabilities in one 
program, on a single disk. 

The state of the artfulness of the program 
was that "all programs reside in memory at 
once, reducing the necessity of having to access 
the disk." 

"Is this true?" he asked the woman with the 
pamphlets. 

"Yes; the program accesses the disk only 
for data retrieval. It never needs to access the 
program disk." 

As the man walked out the door (or accessed 
the exit), he thought to himself, "Access the 
disk." Was that like combinationing a lock, 
oven mittening a pot, and drivewaying the ga- 
rage? It gave him something to think about as he 
free way ed, avenued, and streeted home. 

He forgot to stop at the cleaners to pick up 
his monogrammeds. —Matthew Yuen 




Systems 



DOS: Apple's 
Unsung Champion 

It 's popular to knock DOS, but Woz 's elegant, 
powerful workhorse keeps surprising us. 



Wilt Chamberlain sounded a plaintive note 
last month when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar broke 
his all-time NBA scoring record. He pointed out 
that nobody made any hoopla over his record 
while he was setting it and that it was only one 
of dozens that he holds. 

Chamberlain also bewailed the general con- 
sensus that Bill Russell was a better player than 
he, asserting that if rebounding records had 
been kept during his career, he'd lead in that 
category and he might even lead in blocked 
shots. 

It was kind of bemusing to watch Chamber- 
lain make a valiant attempt to be a good sport 
about his record being broken. But even with 
that record gone, nobody thinks Chamberlain is 
the Rodney Dangerfield of professional basket- 
ball. 

There are lots of parallels to Chamberlain's 
situation of being relatively unappreciated. Bea- 
trice spent millions of dollars on advertising 
during the Winter Olympics to raise the con- 
sciousness of the populace to the parent com- 
pany of such famous brand names as Samsonite. 

The Apple II computer has its own valuable 
but reasonably unappreciated player. It's the 
disk operating system, known as DOS. For 
those of you new to computing, that sounds like 
floss and not like gross. What DOS does is in- 



struct the computer how to store and retrieve 
files from the disk. Lots of folks like to put the 
knock on DOS. It's too slow, it's too limited, it 
can't do sophisticated tasks. 

Apple itself seems to have sided to some de- 
gree with the critics by bringing out ProDOS, 
which is theoretically a stronger, more versatile 
operating system that will aid business applica- 
tion developers. In addition, it will recognize 
Apple in data files. 

But for those of us who have come to know 
and love DOS, all this criticism is just so much 
misplaced bushwa. The number of programs 
that got their start under DOS is too long to in- 
clude, but start with VisiCalc, DB Master, 
Home Accountant, MasterType, Ultima III, 
Choplifter, and Sargon. That's an incredible 
range of product, both in complexity of effort 
and in diversity of application, that all function 
under DOS. 

DOS was the brainchild of Steve Wozniak. 
It's told that Wozniak labored twenty-four 
straight hours on the project, after which it was 
essentially what you see today. That's probably 
apocryphal, but it's too good a story to debunk. 

If you think Apple DOS is slow, try a com- 
parable program on the Commodore 64. If you 
think DOS is unsophisticated, try some of your 
favorite tricks on an Atari 800. If you think MS- 
DOS is the bee's knees, ponder the benchmark 
test published in Interface Age, when a typical 
set of accounting functions took twice as long 
on the IBM Personal Computer. 

Softalk processed its circulation records on 
Apple II computers for the first thirty months of 
its existence. When the time came to change 
over to a minicomputer, the circulation list was 
157,000 records strong. It was no fun to handle 
that many records on the Apple II , but with the 



help of three hard disks, it was possible. 

A look at the print program that generated 
four-up Cheshire labels for Softalk' s monthly 
mailing gives an indication of the complexity 
available under the DOS umbrella. 

When the print program was run, three aux- 
iliary data files were opened. One read into 
memory the list of circulation codes that were 
current. A second file, which was read as the 
printing progressed, listed all single zip codes in 
which there were six or more subscribers. A 
third file, likewise read progressively during 
the run, listed all multiple zip-code cities in 
which there were six or more subscribers. 

In addition, of course, the program walked 
across more than three hundred data files that 
were strung out across three hard disks. 

As the program worked, it would look at the 
code in each record, compare it to the list read 
into memory, and make a print or no-print 
determination. If the determination was made to 
print the record, the codes were analyzed to de- 
termine if a legend should be written on the la- 
bel (many of you first received Softalk with a 
legend stating that your subscription was spon- 
sored by your local retail store or by a software 
publisher). Then the zip code was compared 
against both the single zip-code file and the mul- 
tiple zip-code file to determine if the printed la- 
bel should be marked as belonging in one or 
both of those categories. 

Once that determination was made, the label 
was printed to paper and the zip code of the la- 
bel was incremented by one in a file that was be- 
ing created as printing took place. The end out- 
put consisted of the mailing labels and a DOS 
text file containing a listing of the number of 
copies sent to each zip code. 

The DOS text file was then converted to an 
Apple in file, and postal reports were generated 
using data stored on a ProFile hard disk. 

The point of all this is the complexity of the 
overall effort. An Apple II was capable of print- 
ing different data to two different output devices 
while reading simultaneously from three files 
and holding a fourth file in memory. 

How fast was it? The Apple II had to wait 
for an Epson 100. When it was linked to a high- 
speed serial printer (a Printronix six-hundred- 
line-per-minute printer), it could drive the print- 
er at about one hundred fifty lines per minute. 

The print program was the genius of Ken 
Williams of Sierra On-Line, who threw it off in 
about twelve hours and spent about four hours 
subsequently smoothing it out. 

That's one of the beauties of DOS; it's easy 
to understand and easy to implement for those 
reasonably conversant with its intricacies. And 
it's certainly versatile enough for most applica- 
tions. 

We all appreciate the special genius Wozni- 
ak demonstrated in designing the Apple II . Now 
it's time to pay homage to his efforts in creating 
DOS. It's a marvelous tool— versatile and un- 
complicated. 

The line's been stolen so many times that the 
author has passed into anonymity. But it could 
just as well have been written about DOS as the 
other products to which it's been applied. 

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. 

—Al Tommervik 



BEACH LANPIN6 I 

WleeklyReader m 
Family Software 1 



A division of Xerox Education Publications 
Middletown.CT 06457 



Beach landing is a registered trademark of Optimum Resource. Inc 
Apple is a registered trademark oi Apple Computer. Inc. Atari is a 




32 



mum 



MAY 1984 



Tips 



A Simple Trick 

To Improve 
dBase Formats 



How to get cleaner reports when using the well-known 
CP/M relational database. 



dBase II can be a very powerful database 
management system. The basic structure of the 
program is simple. To create a database, you 
enter the name of the field, the number of 
characters in that field, and the type of field 
(numeric, character, or logical). If necessary, 
enter the number of decimal places for each ap- 
propriate field. 

The report formats are also simple. For each 
column of data, you enter the width of the col- 
umn, the field name, and the heading for that 
particular column. 

Because dBase II is so simple, it's limited. 
As a result, the majority of its users resort to 
programming. By writing programs and inte- 
grating them with the original database, users 
make the program limitless. 

Programming can be fun and productive if 
you're interested in it and have some program- 
ming experience. But if you aren't a program- 
mer and aren't inclined to be one, how do you 
get what you want out of the program and the 
database? 

There are commands in dBase II that can 
work wonders for you. Consider one of the 
most common problems experienced in dBase, 
that of column headings. A work report from 
Hot Air Appliance Repair illustrates this. 

There are basically four matters of concern 
here: The column headings are not neat, but 
sloppy and nonconforming; the column heads 



are too close together; extra lines have been in- 
serted between some of the column headings 
and the underlining; and the headings do not ap- 
pear to be centered above the text. 

This report was not the result of a user error. 
You can get the same results by following the 
directions in the dBase II manual. That is per- 
haps what makes it so frustrating: You're doing 
exactly what you should do, but the results are 
horrendous. 

But take heart. There is a solution— without 
programming. 

Log on to dBase II, set the default to B if 
necessary, and enter: 

CREATE SAMPLE 

COL NAME.TYPE.WIDTH, DECIMAL PLACES 

001 DATE:RPT,C,8 

002 DATE:SVC,C,8 

003 EQUIPMENT, C, 15 

004 PROBLEM, C, 20 

005 TECHNICIAN, C, 10 

006 WORK, C, 20 

007 FOLLOW:UP,C,15 

008 < RETURN > 

This gives a sample database to illustrate the re- 
port commands necessary for generating the 
beautiful report you want. If you enter the 
records shown in Hot Air's report, you'll be 



able to print out a sample report after com- 
pleting the following exercise. 

After adding the records, press control-W 
simultaneously to save the records and return to 
the dot prompt. Then type: 

REPORT FORM FIGURE2 TO PRINT 

You'll have a chance to change the left 
margin, the number of lines per page, or the 
width of the report. For the moment, type: 

W = 120 

PAGE HEADING?(Y/N) Y 

ENTER PAGE HEADING: FIGURE 2 

DOUBLE SPACE REPORT?(Y/N) N 

ARE SUBTOTALS REQUIRED?(Y/N) N 



Now you can enter the information required 
to create the first column. There are three prob- 
lems with this column in Hot Air's original re- 
port: The heading isn't centered, there's an 
extra line in between the heading and the 
underlining, and the whole thing's too close to 
the next column. To correct these problems, we 
must understand why they occurred. 

In fact, the heading is centered— but over the 
whole column rather than just the text. It ap- 
pears off-center because all the text is flush left. 
Because it's easier to change the format of the 
heading than that of the text, we'll trick our 
eyes into thinking the heading is centered by 
making it flush left, too. This is accomplished 
by using the less than ( < ) when entering the 
heading. 

The reason for the extra line between the 
heading and the underlining is simple. There 
are eight characters in the field. There are also 
eight characters in the word reported. Whenev- 
er the title uses all the character spaces allowed 
in its field, the program automatically sends a 
carriage return to the printer. The situation is 
easily remedied by lengthening the field. 

Lengthening the field solves the third prob- 
lem by widening the space between the col- 
umns. The number of characters you add to the 
field is up to you. For this example, use two 
spaces. At the prompt, type: 



DATE DATE OF 
REPORTED SERVICE 



1/20/84 
1/20/84 
1/21/84 
1/22/84 



1/22/84 
1/23/84 
1/25/84 
1/25/84 



EQUIPMENT PROBLEM 



DRYER NOT DRYING 

REFRIGERATOR NOT COOLING 



WASHER 



NO HOT WATER 



REFRIGERATOR NOT COOLING 



NAME OF 
TECHNICIAN 



WORK 
PERFORMED 



HAMMEL CLEANED FILTER 

BROWN PART ORDERED 

SMITH UNCLOGGED H/W FILTER 

HAYES NEEDS NEW REFRIG. 



Figure 1. Hot Air Appliance Repair, Inc. 



FOLLOW-UP 



NONE 
1/25/84 

NONE REQUIRED 
NONE 



DATE DATE OF 

REPORTED SERVICE EQUIPMENT 



PROBLEM 



1/20/84 1/22/84 DRYER NOT DRYING 

1/20/84 1/23/84 REFRIGERATOR NOT COOLING 

1/21/84 1/25/84 WASHER NO HOT WATER 

1/22/84 1/25/84 REFRIGERATOR NOT COOLING 



NAME OF 
TECHNICIAN 

HAMMEL 
BROWN 
SMITH 
HAYES 



WORK 

PERFORMED 

CLEANED FILTER 
PART ORDERED 
UNCLOGGED H/W FILTER 
NEEDS NEW REFRIG. 



FOLLOW-UP 

NONE 
1/25/84 

NONE REQUIRED 
NONE 



Figure 2. Cool Breeze Appliance Repair, Inc. 



The Be 

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NEW from Standard & Poor's - 
Better investment decision-making with your computer. 



TEAM UP WITH STOCKPAK II- 
STOCK MARKET SOFTWARE 
FOR HARDNOSED INVESTORS 



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Subscriptions to STOCKPAK II are tax-deductible. We will 
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J 



MAY 1984 



0 F T A L K # 



35 



COL WIDTH, FIELD 
001 
and enter: 

10,DATE:RPT < RETURN > 

For the heading, enter: 

<DATE;REPORTED; 

< RETURN > 

The system automatically breaks between 
the words date and reported, because it 
recognizes that both words won't fit on the 
same line within the allotted character spaces. 
You also want the underlining to be printed on a 
separate line, so you must send a command to 
the printer to indicate this. 

The semicolon (;) performs this function. 
Whenever the system encounters a semicolon, it 
commands the printer to perform a carriage re- 
turn. To ensure that the report appears the way 
you want, place semicolons wherever you de- 
sire carriage returns. The semicolon between 
the words date and reported ensures consisten- 
cy from one report to the next; the one between 
reported and the dashes ensures that the word 
reported will be underlined. 

Enter the less than sign ( < ) as the first 
character of a heading to indicate that all 
characters following on the same line should be 
flush left. This is the same line as the command, 
not necessarily the same line on the report. 

Now let's enter the second column: 

002 10,DATE:SVC < RETURN > 
HEADING: < DATE OF;SERVICE; 

< RETURN > 

You enter this column in the same manner as 
the first one for virtually the same reasons. 
Entering the width of the field as ten characters 
instead of eight leaves two additional blank 
spaces between this column and the next one. 
The heading is flush left (the less than sign), and 
the semicolons indicate carriage returns, ensur- 
ing that the title encompasses three lines. 

If you were to print out these two fields right 
now, you'd see that the underlining appears on 
the same line. However, the next column has a 
unique problem. 

The third column only encompasses two 
lines: the word equipment on one line and the 
underlining on the second line. If you enter the 
third column like the first and second, the 
underlining will be uneven. This is unaccept- 
able. 

Again, the solution is simple. Merely use the 
semicolon to enter a carriage return before the 
heading begins. Type the information: 

003 17, EQUIPMENT <RETURN> 

HEADING:< ;EQUIPMENT; 

< RETURN > 

The field width is now lengthened by two 
characters just as in the first two columns. The 
less than sign indicates that the title is to be flush 
left. The semicolon sends a carriage return to 
the printer, ensuring that the word equipment is 
placed on the same line as reported and service 
and that the underlining for column 3 is on the 
same line as for columns 1 and 2. 

Enter the fourth column just like the third: 



004 22, PROBLEM < RETURN > 

HEADING: <;PROBLEM; 

< RETURN > 

The next column presents the same problem 
as the first one. Because the word technician is 
ten characters and the width of the field is also 
ten characters, an extra carriage return is in- 
serted. Again, lengthen the field width. Since 
the heading will encompass three lines, no 
preceding semicolons are necessary. Enter: 

005 12.TECHNICIAN < RETURN > 

HEADING: < NAME OF;TECHNICIAN; 

< RETURN > 

Enter the sixth and seventh columns like col- 
umns three and four: 

006 22.WORK < RETURN > 

HEADING: < ;WORK PERFORMED; 

< RETURN > 

007 15, FOLLOW: UP < RETURN > 

HEADING: < ;FOLLOW-UP; 

< RETURN > 

The last field needs no additional character 
spaces because it's the last column. Press return 
at column 008 and the report should begin to 
print. 

The report should look like Cool Breeze Ap- 
pliance Repair's report. 

You can experiment with underlining, 
semicolons, and heading formats to produce the 
reports you require. 



Underlining, for instance, does not have to 
end at the last character of the title, but can con- 
tinue for the width of the field. Just remember 
not to place a character in the last character 
space of the field or you'll get that unwanted 
carriage return. 

You can use semicolons in text to ensure 
carriage returns. For instance, if you're adding 
records and entering information in a long field 
(such as a description), you may want a single 
phrase to stand out. By entering a semicolon 
before and after that phrase, you'll be placing it 
on a line by itself when the report prints. 

Since text is always flush left, it's usually 
best to make the column titles flush left too. 
However, numbers are always flush right, and, 
unless the title is flush right also, it won't ap- 
pear to be in the same column. Make titles flush 
right by entering the greater than sign ( > ). For 
a description field, you may wish to center the 
heading. 

To modify this sample report, type: 
.MODIFY COMMAND FIGURE2.FRM 

The suffix, .FRM, must appear after the file 
name in order to modify a report. When the re- 
port appears on the screen, you scroll to the line 
you wish changed and alter it with the same edit 
keys you'd use to edit records. 

Through simple commands, the report 
generator becomes a much more powerful tool. 
Without programming. —Trish McClelland 



Business 



Happiness Is an 

Overworked 
Computerholic 

The results of De-war's study of people in the 
computer industry might cause lines in its personnel 
offices— if it had personnel offices. 



I'm not a drinker. My forays into the realm 
of hard liquor have left me sick and exhausted 
and repentant and in debt. 

My only connection with the Dewar's com- 
pany, makers of Dewar's White Label Scotch, 
is a series of magazine advertisements known as 
Dewar's Profiles, which depict interviews of 
young successful professionals and determine 
why it is that they do such and such and how 
compatible their lives are with Scotch. 

Dewar's profiles are expanding. The com- 
pany has begun a series of booklets known as 
"The Dewar's Profiles of Americans at 
Work," based on interviews of members of 
various professions. One report in the series 
was entitled "Dewar's Career Profile: Com- 
puter Professionals," and the findings are 
worth examining. 

The Dewar's report focuses on "six differ- 
ent types of computer professionals": educators, 
systems analysts, computer programmers, data 
processing consultants, entrepreneurs, and com- 
puter sales or marketing personnel. Among the 
more interesting findings is that 70 percent of 
those interviewed said they are "very satisfied" 
with their jobs, 24 percent are "somewhat satis- 



fied," and only 6 percent were either "not very 
satisfied" or "very dissatisfied." 

In addition, the Dewar's profile groups com- 
puter professionals into three work types— com- 
puterholics (a dicey term for somebody in the 
liquor business), overtimers, and nine-to-fivers. 
The largest group is the overtimers, who com- 
prised 57 percent of those responding. They are 
described as those who work forty-one to forty- 
nine hours per week, occasionally on 
weekends. The next largest group is the com- 
puterholics, defined as those who work at least 
fifty hours per week and frequently work on 
weekends. They comprised 22 percent of those 
polled. 

Upon reviewing these two sets of statistics, 
it is apparent that, while nearly 80 percent of 
people who work with computers work more 
than forty hours per week, most people who 
work with computers are very satisfied with 
their jobs. Sure, you say, of course: If you like 
your job you're willing to work overtime. 

If they simply liked their jobs more than 
they might like other jobs, it would explain why 
they have the jobs they do, why they stay in the 
jobs they do for long periods of time, and even 



36 



MAY 1984 




why they will go to lengths to keep their jobs- 
including working some overtime. But so many 
computer professionals put in so much overtime 
that they can't just be doing jobs they prefer to 
other jobs. They must prefer their jobs to their 
non-work-related activities. Many work over- 
time not because they have to do so to get the 
job done, but because they like what they are 
doing more than they like doing other things. 

The respondents were asked how greatly 
they value their leisure time. The majority— 55 
percent — said their leisure time was very impor- 
tant. But if they place such a high value on their 
leisure time, why don't they take more of it? 
The Dewar's poll further asked what rewards 
they seek in their leisure-time activities. Relaxa- 
tion was the most common response. Every- 
body has to sleep sometime. 

Okay, that's an exaggeration, but the point 
is that computer professionals are finding many 
of life's rewards in their work, and when they 
are not working they are more than likely just 
relaxing rather than pursuing some demanding 
hobby or developing an athletic expertise. 

Job satisfaction is subjective; the Dewar's 
report factors satisfaction into halves: work ex- 
perience (what happens at work, not work 
history) and expectations brought to the job. As 
far as expectations go, people who work with 
computers by and large know what they are get- 
ting into before they get into it. Computer sci- 
ence courses in colleges are legendary for being 
time-consuming. Patience and a willingness to 
work overtime are bred in such classes — or per- 
haps it's just that those without the required pa- 
tience and enthusiasm are weeded out and en- 
couraged to investigate liberal arts fields. When 
students of computer science are finally em- 
ployed, they expect to work a lot. 



For expectations concerning career advance- 
ment, Dewar's reports that 54 percent of those 
polled are "at least as far along as expected" 
when they began their careers, and 28 percent 
are "even further along." That comes to 82 
percent who are at least as successful as they ex- 
pected to be. 

Work experience is broken down by Dewar's 
as the product of "meaningfulness, responsi- 
bility, and knowledge of results." No argu- 
ment, but do meaningfulness, responsibility, 
knowledge of results, acceptable career growth, 
and fulfilled expectations fully explain why 
computer professionals are long-working and 
satisfied people? Or is something more in- 
volved? 

An economist would say yes, money. In- 
deed, there have been instances of computer 
scientists turning out unbelievably advanced 
ideas or products and reaping equally unbelieva- 
ble rewards. Computer money is like entertain- 
ment money— sports money, movie money, that 
kind of thing— it is highly visible but hard to get 
a hold of. If computer scientists and business- 
people went into computer fields strictly for the 
money, most of them would have given up by 
now. Although people in computer-related pro- 
fessions are generally assured of a comfortable 
income — even those who work forty or fewer 
hours a week— they have no assurance of 
wealth. Their overtime is not motivated by 
money. 

If money has any involvement at all, it is that 
the computer profession has enough money 
available to investigate new avenues, try new 
tactics, enjoy the childishness of secrecy. Peo- 
ple in computer fields often have the resources 
to do what they've always wanted to do in their 
garages but could not afford. Which raises the 



interesting point that many computer profes- 
sionals are doing at work what they would other- 
wise be doing at home as a hobby, and that 
many nonprofessionals are just as devoted to 
their avocational computing. 

There is a last factor, however, that perhaps 
best explains the results of the Dewar's profile, 
and, in addition, helps to explain why computer 
amateurs — hobbyists, hackers, gamers, and gen- 
eral muckers-about— can't wait to get home 
from their forty hours a week and put forty 
more in on their computers: play. 

Computers— especially micros— are fun. 
They are fun to work with because they repre- 
sent such a leap over the tools that used to be so 
prevalent. They provide an avenue for great in- 
ventiveness because they are new — for comput- 
er applications, imagination is the only limit. In 
some ways that has always been the message of 
the magazine you are reading. 

Computers bring the fun of toys to the work- 
place. They are like Tinker Toys or Erector 
Sets— they represent an almost limitiess poten- 
tial. Devise a simpler user interface; draw a bet- 
ter hi-res picture; create a better sound. Make it 
faster, give it a better memory, sell it for less. 
Computer scientists and businesspeople thrive 
on challenge. Give them a problem and stand 
back. Or risk becoming part of the solution; 
they'll use whatever's at hand. 

Fantasies come alive in the computer indus- 
try. Images of recluses working singly for long 
hours, cloistered in darkened offices poring 
over cryptic mathematic formulas or sounding 
the depths of language intricacies in order to 
devise a better game are not only common, they 
are true. 

Also, because it is young and because it 
sprang forth in California, the microcomputer 
industry is fun. The competition makes such 
childlike things as secrecy and espionage possi- 
ble. For example, a feeling of electricity 
sparked the air just before Apple unveiled the 
Macintosh. 

In his book on stimulating creativity in the 
business environment, A Whack on the Side of 
the Head, Roger van Oech writes, "I've no- 
ticed that a fun working environment is much 
more productive than a routine environment. 
People who enjoy their work will come up with 
more ideas. The fun is contagious, and every- 
body works harder to get a piece of that fun." 

Dewar's quotes Ed Young, a systems 
development manager at National Advanced 
Systems and one of their respondents, under the 
heading of "Personal Motivation: Career Goals 
and Rewards": "I like the instantaneous grati- 
fication of computers, and they also fit in with 
my desire to build things." It almost sounds 
like some kid evaluating an involvement with 
blocks. 

Darwin Scott, another Dewar's respondent, 
says, "It's a fuzzy boundary for me between 
work and nonwork. I do computer-related ac- 
tivities with friends." Work and play fall to- 
gether for Scott. If he spends upward of forty 
hours a week at work, the reason is apparent. 

How about for the more famous computer 
professionals? Does play explain their devotion 
and intensity? 

In his introduction to von Oech's book, No- 
lan Bushnell, the founder of Atari, writes, 



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38 



mum 



MAY 1984 



turn DOT MATRIX 

INTO A DAISY . . - 



(B rand new! Now I 
can turn GEMINI 
as well as EPSON 
printers into 

\ a daisy! 




with the NicePrint Card 
(formerly SUPER-MX Card) 
for the Apple II, II+, or He. 

The standard of printing excellence is 
the daisy-wheel printer. The NicePrint 
interface card improves EPSON or 
GEMINI printers so they have just about 
the same quality print as the daisy-wheels! 
And this high quality is easily available 
to all Apple software, even copy-pro- 
tected diskettes. 

Here is a sample o-f 
d d t. m a t r i ;•; p r i n t. i n g „ 
Change it into a daisy 
with NicePrint! 

Four optional font styles are available 
in addition to the standard Roman font 
shown above that simply plug into the 
card: 

Letter Gothic, ORATOR 
LARGE* Scru.pt Sty£e, 
and <01Ab English". 
All fonts can have 
under 1 ine 9 boldface, 
italics, wide , 
suPER/ SUB - scr ipts , 
pica, elite, and condensed. 

BETTER THAN GRAPPLER! 

The NicePrint card has all the Apple 
Hi-Res graphic dump commands that 
the Grappler has including: double 
dumps (both pages side by side), dump 
from page 1 or 2, double size, empha- 
sized, rotated, strip chart recorder 
mode, and text screen dump. 

Spies Laboratories 

(pronounced "speez") 

P.O. Box 336 
Lawndale, CA 90260 
(213) 538-8166 

Apple II is a TM of Apple Computer. Inc. 
Grappler is a TM of Orange Micro. Inc. 



"Personally, I believe that innovation is a lot of 
fun. This is what has motivated me to try the 
various things I've done. You see, I love to 
build. . . . The creative aspects of how some- 
thing is put together, whether it's a toy bridge, 
or an array of integrated circuits, or a new com- 
pany, really excite me." Later in the introduc- 
tion he writes, "I've also found that innovative 
people have a passion for what they do." 

Steve Jobs is the renowned model of the ca- 
pricious child-chairman. 

Bert Kersey, programmer and president of 
Beagle Bros, seemingly runs his company like 
an afterschool clubhouse, complete with 
mascot. 

Mark Pelczarski likes to draw. 

Steve Wozniak builds things in garages and 
throws money away at rock concerts. 

Dave Gordon— well, Dave Gordon. 

Al Tommervik takes naps. 

To suggest that these computer industry lead- 
ers are children is insulting. To say that they 



know how to have fun like children, to lose 
themselves to enthusiasm like children, to study 
minutiae and dream of universes the way chil- 
dren preoccupy themselves with such matters is 
to pay them the compliment of carrying the 
richness of play into the adult world. Computer 
professionals stop and smell the roses. And pull 
off the petals and stab one another repeatedly 
with the thorns and play in the mud and have 
water fights and look for bugs. The computer 
industry has room for inventiveness, unortho- 
doxy, tears, fears, laughter, secretiveness, es- 
pionage, petty jealousy, games— it has room for 
fun. 

In a product brochure, Datamost Software 
came up with this line: "Lucky for you we 
didn't listen to our mothers when they begged 
us to get real jobs." 

I think that sums up the explanation for the 
Dewar's profile. It also explains why I am not a 
drinker: Scotch clashes with my chocolate milk. 

—Todd Zilbert 



Lifestyles 



Priming Your 
Original Computer 

Hold on! Relax. And don 't bother typing this program 
into your Apple. 



Working with computers makes things easy 
beyond speeding up work and providing 
magical diversion. 

It's so easy to forget our bodies— to awaken 
after a spell to realize that our necks are 
cricked, stomachs growling, or hands cramped. 

According to the National Institute of Oc- 
cupational Safety and Health, computer entry is 
the number one most stressful profession— even 
more stressful than air traffic controlling. Peo- 
ple who work long periods before a computer 
complain of a host of symptoms ranging from 
eyestrain, carpal tunnel syndrome (in the 
hands), backaches, and CRT radiation-related 
problems. In addition, psychologically related 
symptoms include alienation/detachment from 
people ("hackers' syndrome"), impatience 
with ambiguity (rejection of the existence of 
mixed feelings, pressure to be always logi- 
cal and decisive), and fear/ resentment of the 
machine. 

Remember, you are in control. GSI, GSO, 
or, as they say in Silicon Valley, "Good Stuff 
In, Good Stuff Out." 

Here is a program to take care of the most 
important element in the system— you. 

10 REM PROGRAM FOR HUMAN 

PRODUCTIVITY 
20 REM AND SATISFACTION 
30 REM IN PSYCHOPHYSICAL BASIC 
40 NEW 
50 GOTO 200 

100 REM SUBROUTINE: "TIME 

OUT/RENEWAL" 
110 HOME: CLOSE EYES 
120 M = PEEK (INSIDE): BREATHE DEEP 
130 RELAX HANDS ON LAP 



140 FEEL HANDS (HEAVY, WARM, 

TINGLING) 
150 IF NOT RELAXING THEN GOTO 110 
160 SPREAD RELAXATION TO LEGS 
170 SPREAD RELAXATION TO TORSO 
180 GENTLY RETURN 
200 REM PROGRAM: "AUTOGENICS: 

SILENTLY TALKING TO SELF WHILE 

BREATHING" 
210 FORX = 1T0 3: INHALE: PRINT "I am 

becoming";: EXHALE: PRINT "...more 

and more relaxed and alert with every 

breath." 

220 NEXT X: REM REPEAT THREE TIMES 
230 FOR Y = 1 TO 3: INHALE: PRINT "I am 
letting go";: EXHALE: PRINT "...of 
excessive tensions, worries, and fears." 
240 NEXT Y: REM REPEAT THREE TIMES 
250 FOR R = 1 TO 3: INHALE: PRINT "I am 
becoming";: EXHALE: PRINT " more 
and more confident and creative all the 
time." 

260 NEXT R: REM REPEAT THREE TIMES 
270 FOR B = 1 TO 3: INHALE: PRINT "My 
breathing is becoming smoother and 
deeper";: EXHALE: PRINT "...and I am 
becoming even more relaxed." 
280 NEXT B: REM REPEAT THREE TIMES 
300 CALL RELAXATION MONITOR 
310 IF NOT RELAXING THEN GOSUB 100 
320 END 

Psychophysical Basic runs slowly, at first. 
With running (practice), the program is auto- 
matically compiled into Biomachine Language 
(habit). 

Many other subroutines are available and 
may be included to release accumulated muscle 
tension, prevent CRT eyestrain, and ergonomi- 
cally increase creativity and user's friendli- 
ness. —Robert Pater 



aiarisoft; 

All tM hits your Apple 



HE 

FROM W 

ATARISOFT 
MOON PATROL * TJ 



JUNGLE HUNT 
BATTLEZONE 



ATARISOFT 

APPLE II 



POLE POSITION 
GALAXIAN 
STARGATE 
DONKEY KONG 
DEFENDER 
DIG DUG 
CENTIPEDE 
ROBOTRON:2084 
PAC-MAN 



is missing. 

If you thought you'd never find fun games for your 
hardworking Apple, happy days are here. Because now 
ATARISOFT brings you great arcade hits never before seen i 
on your Apple screen. 

Pick from Pac-Man, 1 Donkey Kong- by Nintendo; 
Centipede?" Defender/ Joust? Jungle Hunt; Moon Patrol? 
Pole Position? Galaxian, 1 Ms. Pac-Man, 1 and Battlezone™ > 

So dust off your joystick (or if you don't have a stick, you 
can play with a flick of your fingers on your keyboard) and 
ask your dealer for all the ATARISOFT hits. The software your 
hardware's been waiting for. 

Apple is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc This software is manufactured by ATARI, Inc tor use on the Apple II computer 
and is not made, sponsored, authorized or approved by Apple Computer, Inc 1 Trademarks of Bally Mfg Co Sublicensed to ATARI, 
Inc. by Namco-America, Inc 2 Trademarks and © Nintendo 1981 , 1983 3 Trademarks and © Williams 1980, 1982. manufactured 
under license from Williams Electronics. 4. Trademark and © of Taito America Corporation 1982. 5 Engineered and designed by 
Namco Ltd., manufactured under license by ATARI Inc Trademark and © Namco 1982 Atari* O A Warner 

Communications Co. © 1984 ATARI Inc. All rights reserved. 




EXEC 
APPLE COMPUTER 
INTERNATIONAL: 
CHEZ PARIS 




41 

Our intention is not to put a wire into people 's heads and hook 
them up to a database. 

— Mike Spindler, Apple's vice president 
and general manager, Europe 

There was a time not long ago when the prospect of an Ameri- 
can phenomenon called the hamburger gaining acceptance in the 
culinary paradise called Paris seemed about as likely as D'Arta- 
gnan becoming one of the queen's most trusted champions in the 
first few chapters of The Three Musketeers. And yet, though 
hamburgers are not the meal of preference for the average Pari- 
sian, they have for the most part gone the way of D'Artagnan and 
found their way into the heart of many a Frenchman. 

Hamburgers and personal computers, of course, are not often 
thought of as similar, but in the never-to-be-outguessed game of 
European marketing of American products, they share certain 
characteristics. The most obvious similarity is the time-lag factor. 
Europeans take great pride in their ability to cook good food, pos- 
sibly the best food in the world. It'll take time for them to get 
used to the idea of forsaking the usual blanquette de veau for even 
an occasional Big Mac. 

Likewise they have done without personal computers for the 
last two thousand years. But just as hamburgers have found a 
home on the avenue des Champs-Ely sees and the boulevard St. 
Germain, so has a personal computer brand called Apple marched 
through the Arc de Triomphe on its way to widespread accep- 
tance in the homeland of Lafayette and Victor Hugo. And as the 
Allied forces knew when they landed on the beach at Normandy, 
the liberation of Europe starts best on French soil. 

An American Computer Company in Paris. Located on the 
rue de Chartres in Neuilly-sur-Seine, just outside Paris, Apple 
Computer International is the strategic planning center for Ap- 
ple's efforts in Europe. Though the office is a stone's throw from 
the avenue Charles de Gaulle, which becomes the avenue de la 
Grande Armee at Porte Maillot and then the avenue des Champs- 
Elysees at the Arc de Triomphe, it is technically outside the city 
limits of Paris. 

The purpose of Apple Computer International is to provide a 
centralized sales and marketing force for the introduction of new 
products and the formulation of Apple's basic European strate- 
gies. Apple Computer International, in its role as strategic head- 
quarters for all of Europe, handles the introduction of a product 
and the setting up of initial marketing strategies and pricing struc- 



Below, Apple Computer International's editorial services manager Jon 
Bruce demonstrates that all Apples don't have to be beige colored to be 
useful. Opposite page, most of Apple Computer International's staff in front 





TALK MAY 1984 II 

tures. After three months, the individual areas take over the re- 
sponsibilities of managing a product. 

Apple is present in most European countries— France, West 
Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, 
Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Switzerland, 
Portugal, Greece, and Yugoslavia— as well as in Iceland, Turkey, 
Cyprus, Malta, and Israel. These countries have their own opera- 
tions that are responsible for the day-to-day job of marketing and 
distributing Apples. 

The most recent figures put Apple's sales outside the United 
States at 25 percent of the company's total sales, and Europe ac- 
counts for the largest part of this 25 percent. Apple has to be con- 
sidered the leading personal computer manufacturer in Europe, 
though it is only in the last year that this distinction has come to 
mean much. By and large, Europeans have been slower to em- 
brace the personal computer phenomenon than people in the 
United States. 

The challenges of marketing American products, particularly 
personal computers, on the European continent make for quite a 
story. Localization— making a product suitable for a specific 
country — and distribution are the most crucial areas a company 
must concern itself with. But the larger question of just how wel- 
come American companies are overseas cannot be ignored. 

Phil Roybal, until late last year Apple's European marketing 
manager, says the situation in Europe is the same for Apple as for 
any foreign company. As long as Apple is creating local jobs, 
boosting the local economy— basically being a "good European 
citizen"— there are no problems with local governments. When 
spin-off job opportunities, such as dealerships, are created, they 
contribute to a positive balance of trade. 

Late last year, Roybal stepped down from his European post 
of one year— which had him spending half his time in California 
and the other half in Paris. He says Apple's goal was to build up 
the organizations in each of the countries so that they could oper- 
ate more or less independently, with only a modicum of direction 
from the Paris office— which, in turn, gets its direction from 
Cupertino. But before you get the idea that Apple Computer In- 
ternational is just a funnel for directives from the big boys in 
Silicon Valley, read on. 

Mighty Mike. Once you've heard him talk and seen him 
pound the table a dozen times in as many minutes to emphasize 
his words, it's easy to understand how Mike Spindler landed the 
pivotal job of Apple's vice president and general manager for Eu- 
rope. A native German who speaks several languages with ease, 
Spindler is much more than an efficient marketeer. Like Jean- 
Louis Gassee, the amazing individual who has made France Ap- 
ple's most lucrative foreign market, Spindler is a persuasive 
messenger bringing the promised land of personal computing to 
the peoples of Europe. 

"We are a consumer marketing company selling personal 
tools, which someone might accidentally call computers, through 
dealers. We're marketing these tools to individuals on a wanted 
rather than a needed basis. You have to start talking to the guts 
rather than the intellect, to the buyer's ego— to his ability to say, 
T want to learn about this because I think these tools will become 
part of my life.' " 

Spindler' s introduction to Apple occurred in early 1980. At 
the time, he was Intel's European marketing manager, working 
out of Brussels. Then, as now, Regis McKenna was Intel's public 
relations agency. One day Regis McKenna himself came by and 



Apple Computer International execs (top to bottom): Mike Spindler, vice 
president and general manager; Henri Aebischer, marketing manager, Ap- 
ple II division; Bob Kissach, marketing manager, 32 division; Fred Bullock, 
product marketing manager for the Apple lie; and Marek Milik, creative 

Services manager. Photos by David Hunter 



MAY 1984 



mum 



43 



showed Spindler copies of American microcomputer magazines 
and basically said, "This is the next thing." 

Spindler has worked his way down, so to speak, from main- 
frames to minicomputers to microcomputers. In the midsixties he 
helped engineer peripherals for mainframes at a company called 
Siemens. From Siemens, Spindler went on to Digital Equipment 
Corporation, where he eventually became involved with the 
marketing, largely through OEMs, of minicomputers. 

It was while he was learning the art of the "technosell" that 
Spindler recognized the threat the semiconductor industry posed 
to minicomputer manufacturers by virtue of its ability to produce 
microprocessors. Spindler could see that advances in software, 
such as real-time operating systems, were going to undercut the 
minicomputer manufacturers just as that industry had once pulled 
the rug out from under mainframe suppliers. 

Spindler saw the opportunity to participate in an exciting new 
industry and joined Intel. As it worked out, the semiconductor 
companies failed to recognize the chance to beat the minicom- 
puter manufacturers at their own game. Thus, Spindler was 
primed to join an organization like Apple. 

"For me, Apple was an opportunity to start again, to build a 
company and a market," Spindler recalls. 

Remembrance of Things Past. In the late seventies, a man 
by the name of Andre Sousan set up independent arrangements 
with European import companies to buy Apples at arm's length. 
It was a primitive importing operation, with no marketing and 
sales support, that had limited success. Spindler calls it "a real 
buy-and-sell situation. The local distributor would do the best he 
could." To this day, Spindler believes that distributor is the 
wrong label to attach to the entity that moves machines in Europe. 
"It's a push market; we must be a marketing company." 

Apple first entered the European theater en force in 1980. The 
company did three things immediately: built a manufacturing 
plant in Cork, Ireland, opened a large distribution center in the 
Netherlands, and implemented a management structure in the 
form of a marketing and sales headquarters in Paris. 

Apple was fortunate to land the services of Jean-Louis Gas- 
see, who has created an extremely strong dealer network in 
France. Gassee wrote the book on making Apples attractive to the 
French people. He formed a distribution company which he has 
since sold to Apple. Now, as director of Apple (Seedrin) SARL, 
he uses his strong character, active intellect, and personal love of 
Apple to point the way to success in the rest of Europe. 

"We weren't promoting the idea of personal computers," 
says Spindler, "as personal tools for individuals in schools, busi- 
nesses, and wherever to use for themselves. The existing market 
was more or less the old game of accounting, payroll, inventory. 
Everybody looked at the Apple U as a poor man's data processing 
unit that they'd hook up to a mainframe." Selling Apples as 
business machines took the personal out of personal computers, 
and it was Gassee who showed that Apples could appeal to the 
strongly entrenched cultural consciousness of Europeans. 

Spindler feels that Apple is on the right track, moving away 
from the traditional, classical technosell method of marketing 
machines. 

In addition to marketing Apples in a way that appeals to Euro- 
peans, Apple had to make a greater effort to localize software. 
"The people in the home office, as smart as they were, had more 
than enough to do. There was no easy way for them to localize the 
software that makes Apples so popular in the States." 

Two for the Road. Last year, when John Sculley came on as 
president of Apple, one of the first moves he made was to simpli- 
fy the structure of the company, forming two basic product 
groups— the Apple U division and the 32 division. At Apple Com- 
puter International, each of the two groups has its own marketing 
manager who reports to Spindler, who in turn reports directly 



to Sculley. 

Henri Aebischer, a three-year veteran of Apple, is the 
marketing manager for the Apple II group. A native of Switzerland, 
Aebischer has a reputation for being a connoisseur of French 
cooking. 

Aebischer took what he calls the "traditional path" for Ap- 
ple's European executives. That is, he worked in the minicom- 
puter industry, for Data General, before moving to the field of 
microcomputers. It was at Data General that Aebischer met Jean- 
Louis Gassee, who in turn introduced him to Mike Spindler. As 
an "old crocodile" of the computer industry, Aebischer brings 
years of experience to the job. 

Though he believes that the Mac may eventually surpass the II 
family in total number of Apple units sold, Aebischer also be- 
lieves that the "II will stay here for a long, long time. 

"The Apple II began "s a general-purpose machine, but as 
time went by it became a 'niche machine.' " explains Aebischer. 
Users, with a choice of some ten thousand pieces of software, be- 
gan to use the II for specific vertical market applications. The 
sum total effect was that the market "appeared horizontal, but it 
was probably made up of many vertical segments." 

The philosophy behind Apple's existing and future eight-bit 
machines is basically the same throughout the world: Take a win- 
ning product and improve it so it stays a winner. Aebischer 
defines Apple's philosophy as decreasing cost and compacting 
value. The brand-new Apple lie (the c stands for compact) con- 
tinues the tradition started with the Apple U Plus and He. 

In addition to lowering costs and achieving a more economical 
design of the U, Apple is striving to increase functionality. That is 
why modern features like the mouse and integrated software- 
technological advances previously available only on the higher- 



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priced Lisa and Macintosh— are becoming standard options for 
the II family. "We don't want to strip the II of its functionality 
just so we can sell it for $400," says Aebischer. 

Localizing Lisa. Aebischer cites the Lisa as an example of 
how good Apple has become at localizing products. "The 
strategy is to localize a product as soon as possible. Lisa was very 
complex. Here in Europe, we had all seven manuals for the ma- 
chine translated and printed less than three months after Lisa 
started shipping in the States. It was a major task with a lot of 
nitty-gritty details." 

Though up till now the acceptance of personal computers has 
been much slower in Europe than the U.S., Aebischer believes 
that the acceptance curve may be exponential. There are still hur- 
dles caused by the economic environment, but the computer 
awareness of Europeans is on the rise. Almost as important as 
the pricing of products is the careful nurturing of the various 
cultures. 

"The Latin countries love the personal computer concept. 
The French are very individualistic. Just drive in Paris some- 
time. The French drive crazily because they think they are alone 
on the road." 

Germany, on the other hand, is a different story, according to 
Aebischer. "There they say, 'We are comfortable. Why should 
we try to improve our productivity?' Their attitude is becoming 
very conservative, even a little pessimistic perhaps." 

At least four times a year Aebischer travels to the United 
States to meet with the folks in Cupertino, visit dealers, and look 
at the largest Apple market close-up. "All of us here read the 
U.S. press. The States are a kind of guinea pig for us. What hap- 
pens there will happen here." 

Aebischer believes that the tide may be turning. He attributes 
this to the increased visibility of Apple in Europe and to the ex- 
istence of innovators, who take up the challenge of making per- 
sonal computers useful for themselves. When a talented individ- 
ual creates a program or application and shows it to someone, 
who in turn sees a need for his own machine, he is contributing to 
that curve. 

Managing the European MacMarket. Although Macintosh 
was announced in Europe at the same time as in the United States, 
the machine is still not being shipped to European dealers 
in quantity. 

Bob Kissach, marketing manager for the Apple 32 division, 
will have been with Apple's European troops three years come 
August. A native of Leeds in northern England's Yorkshire 
County, Kissach has a laugh that probably could be heard easily 
from the highest balcony seat in London's Albert Hall. 

Kissach has worked with American companies for a total of 
fourteen years. Nine of those years were spent with Data General 
and included a stint in Marlborough, Massachusetts. He's been in 
Paris for seven years, first with DG and now with Apple. 

"The experience we've gained from marketing the II and III 
in Europe has helped on a lot of levels with Macintosh and Lisa. 
Of course, the main task is localization. We've tried to put 
nothing inside a machine that is country-specific. 

"There are needs to localize the power supply and the analog 
board, but the digital board is identical throughout the world." 
Likewise, says Kissach, the iconographic labeling over the ports 
on the back of Macintosh's case means the case can be the same 
for any country, regardless of the native language. 

"Usually it is very difficult to localize software. Someone 
would have to go through the source code and translate it man- 
ually. With Macintosh there are resource files that allow us to 
change messages, menus, dates, times, sorting sequences, and 
character sets. With one of these resource editors we can stretch a 
dialog box to fit a specific language." This can be crucial. 

English is a very compact language compared to, say, Ger- 



man. An item on an English memo that is seven characters long 
may require over ten characters in German. 

In addition to recognizing the importance of localizing prod- 
ucts, Apple has learned that software sells machines. "We're try- 
ing to re-create the U phenomenon," Kissach says. "The Macin- 
tosh is totally open to developers." 

Kissach has been involved with the Macintosh product for 
more than a year and a half. The announcement of the machine in 
January was attended in Europe by the same razzmatazz and press 
coverage that made the U.S. introduction of Macintosh such a 
media event. Kissach and others attribute a lot to Lisa for the 
overwhelming acceptance of Mac in Europe. Although few peo- 
ple seemed to be able to afford the high-priced Lisa when it was 
first introduced (the price was the equivalent of $12,000), the ma- 
chine generated great interest. 

Apple is also trying to foster, says Kissach, a more evenly 
balanced exchange of software. This means that a software com- 
pany in France should think of selling its products not only in the 
United States but in other European countries as well. The fact 
that software for the Macintosh can be easily translated is helping 
this effort along considerably. 

Cooking Up a Consistent Look. Marek Milik is Apple's 
creative services manager for Europe. His job is to maintain the 
consistency of Apple's graphic look throughout the Continent. 
The graphic look includes brochures, packaging, magazines, 
fliers, print advertising, and television commercials — anything 
the public sees. 

Milik says that people in the States don't often realize the 
enormous differences there are between countries in Europe. 
"Here, flying from San Francisco to Los Angeles is the equiva- 
lent of flying from London to Paris, London to Rome, Paris to 
Zurich. And each time you're experiencing completely different 
nationalities, languages, and ways of thinking. Our job is to 
transform the Apple graphics, which all originate in America, so 
they look European." 

It is crucial, says Milik, for an American company to play 
down the fact that the product being offered is American. "A 
Frenchman wants to buy something French, or at least buy some- 
thing that is not crammed down his throat as American. It's 
getting better now, but in the past Apple's graphics have been 
very Californian." 

The problem of localizing, but not overlocalizing, Apple's 
image is a complex one. "A Frenchman also doesn't want to buy 
something that looks too German or too Italian." Up until last 
October, says Milik, all the designs of brochures and packaging 
for the various European countries originated from the Paris of- 
fice. Now that this aspect of Apple's European operations has 
been decentralized, there is a real effort to make sure that the in- 
dividual areas— all of which now have their own communications 
and marketing departments — don't radically change Apple's 
overall public image. 

"You have to rationalize some," Milik says. "There are a 
thousand little things that the individual areas have to do, but they 
can't start changing the big things, like the packaging and the 
brochures." 

Milik works closely with the creative managers of the various 
individual countries, as well as with Cupertino. "In the States, 
I've told them that if you shoot a picture of a man sitting at a desk, 
take the telephone off the table. It's not that we don't have 
telephones out here, but they're slightly different in each country. 
So take it off, or shoot six or seven versions of the picture." 

Another telling example of the problems of localizing 
graphics is found in the packaging for the Uc. On one side of the 
United States box is a picture of a smiling woman in blue jeans 
holding a Uc. In Germany, for instance, this concept would not 
work well. So the picture was changed to three businessmen in an 



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46 



mum 



MAY 1984 



elevator; two are carrying briefcases and one is holding a He. 

International Signs of Modern Times. Apple's chief com- 
petitor in the United States is IBM, and Big Blue (or the Big Let- 
ters, as Spindler refers to the largest computer firm in the world) 
is gaining momentum in the European personal computer market. 
IBM has been slow to enter the European market; the PCjr and 
Portable PC are still to be introduced— "It's a case of pick your 
rumor as to when," says Kissach. 

Even so, Kissach and Apple recognize that IBM can have the 
same effect in Europe that it did in the United States — that is, it 
can help legitimize the market. Up till now, says Kissach, some 
people have viewed the IBM PC as a "me too" machine. "IBM 
is a well-respected name here," Kissach says, "but it doesn't 
have the same magic that it has in the States. 

"But they're moving. Already we're seeing a polarization oc- 
curring with the dealers, where stores are starting to carry Apple, 
IBM, and maybe one other brand. Even in Europe it seems to be 
shaping up into a two-horse race, though Victor— which entered 
the market a year before IBM— has sold quite a lot of its machines 
here." 

Regardless of IBM's strategies, Apple remains secure in its 
own still-developing attack. Fred Bullock, product marketing 
manager for the Apple lie, puts it this way: "Apple's first 
priority is not to be IBM-compatible but to be the best." Spindler 
too feels that, particularly in Europe, Apple has little to fear from 
the Big Letters as long as product and not name is the main focus. 

"If you say that a machine has MS-DOS compatibility, what 
does that mean to the first-time user? Nothing. We're trying to 
move away from that world of a data processing elite, with their 
blue suits and a huge programming staff. Distribution means 
growing sales, not a growing technical support staff." 

Fruits of Technology Over There. Free to do its own thing, 
Apple is clearly on the road to explosive growth in Europe. The 



last year has seen sales double in France. Kissach believes that if 
the German market picked up, the European scene would be 
spectacular. 

"This whole business is communication," says Spindler. 
"We're our own worst enemy. I go to Cupertino once a month to 
discuss changing resources, product allocations, and future defi- 
nitions of markets. We engage in a sort of body language with 
dealers. Dealers are very important in Europe. We try to con- 
vince them that Apple is a partnership, not dominance, not 
George Orwell." 

Inseinely Great. With all this talk of marketing, localization, 
and cooperative strategies, very little mention has been made of 
what a delightful group of people work at the Paris office. They 
now number about forty-five and there's hardly an American in 
the bunch. Editorial services manager Jon Bruce, when he is not 
producing six or seven different documents in what he calls the 
"midatlantic" style of writing, produces the cheerfully irrev- 
erent Apple Computer International employee newsletter, called 
Apparis. Flipping through past issues gives a reader a privi- 
leged look at a group of people who care very much about their 
work, but also about having fun— people who know how to keep 
a sense of humor even when they work long hours and wear many 
different hats. 

Apple Computer International is reminiscent of the early days 
of Apple— the enthusiasm, the excitement, the uncertainty about 
what will happen next. Henri Aebischer says that hardly six 
months goes by without some radical change occurring on the 
European front. That the changes have been mostly for the good 
should give Americans encouragement. In personal computing, 
these Europeans are not behind us trying to catch up, they're cre- 
ating something brand-new— just as they did when they carved 
the Americas out of the New World. We can learn from them as 
they have learned from us. JM 



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MAY 1984 



S O F T A L If 



51 



Mind Your 





PETER OLIVER! 




Can summertime be almost here? It cer- 
tainly can! And perhaps after a long winter, 
your trusty Apple could use a tune-up. More 
about that later. We have quite a variety of sub- 
jects to cover this month. In the course of things 
we'll make good on leftover promises, intro- 
duce some new topics for discussion, and con- 
tinue to develop ideas that have been presented 
over the last few months. So why not pour your- 
self a bit of lemonade, put your feet up, sit 
back, and relax. 

Continuing Communications. Last month 
we talked about telecommunications and its im- 
pact on microcomputer users. This time, we'll 
address a specific question that a number of 
readers have asked, namely: What factors 
should be considered when selecting a modem? 

As you'll recall, a modem is the device 
that's connected to your Apple and serves to 
link your machine to another computer. There 
are five factors to consider when selecting a 
modem: 

1 . What kind of interface does the modem re- 
quire? What, you may ask, is an interface? 
Well, your Apple must somehow connect (in- 
terface) with the modem. If you're going to use 
the telephone lines as the means of transmitting 
data (there aren't many other choices available 
to most of us), then you need some sort of con- 
nector. Since modems use the serial method of 
transmission (one bit after another), the inter- 
face connected to your machine must also be 
serial. Some micros have this interface— which 
is usually called an RS-232 serial interface- 
built in. An RS-232 interface is also available 
via some sort of communications card that's 
designed to be placed in one of the vacant slots 
of your Apple. Some modems come with this 
card, while others require that it be purchased 
separately. 

2. At what speed will the modem send data? 
Common speeds are 300 baud (bits per second) 
and 1200-baud. Faster speeds are possible, but 
they're not really appropriate for use over 
telephone lines. The faster the transmission 
speed, the faster information is obtained. For 
example, using a 1200-baud modem would en- 
able you to transmit or receive a twelve-page re- 
port in the same amount of time it would take to 
send or receive a three-page document at 300 
baud. If you're paying for the time it takes to 
send and receive files (either as part of your 
phone bill or in the form of charges for using 
one of the information services), then getting a 
1200 baud modem might well be worth the ex- 
tra expense. Look around; some modems offer 
switch-selectable speeds. 

3. How does the modem connect to the 
telephone? Most modems take advantage of a 



common telephone jack (one of the newer ones, 
not the old four-prong type). This is by far the 
best connection method, resulting in a transmis- 
sion that is more noise-free and allowing for 
some nice features, such as automatic dialing. 
The alternative is to get a device called an 
acoustic coupler— a small unit into which you 
place the telephone handset. Though different 
from a modem, an acoustic coupler serves 
essentially the same purpose. Acoustic couplers 
are cheaper than modems, but they are also less 
reliable. 

4. What software is available to support 
communications with this modem? This con- 
sideration is certainly an important one— after 
all, it was probably the software that facilitated 
a lot of those nifty things that made you want a 
modem in the first place. Make sure, at the mini- 
mum, that the software you get allows for easy 
transfer and printing of files. And of course, it 
might be a big plus if this same software also 
made it possible for you to communicate with a 
variety of host computers. 

5. Are there any extras included with the 
modem package? Some packages offer special 
features, such as the ability to answer incoming 
calls to your computer automatically, the ca- 
pacity to remember several telephone numbers 
and automatically dial them at your command, 
and the ability to dial up an information service 
late at night (when rates are cheaper) and re- 
trieve the data you need. 

The Magic Numbers. If you're interested 
in telecommunications and you've decided to 
purchase a modem, the next obvious question 
concerns where or whom you might call. 

Certainly, many business people use their 
modem-equipped micros to communicate di- 
rectly with their company's main computers. 
This enables them to enter or retrieve informa- 
tion directly (either at home or at work) from 
existing resources. It's also possible, of course, 
to communicate information from one micro- 
computer to another (the Apple at home can 
communicate with the Apple at work). 

A modem-equipped Apple can also be used 
to connect with and obtain information from 
one of several commercial on-line information 
services. These on-line sources provide access 
to programs, news, classified ads, and a variety 
of special services. Among the information ser- 
vices available are the following: 

The Source (McLean, VA). UPI news, busi- 
ness databases, financial information, airline 
schedules, electronic mail services, user bulle- 
tin boards, and various consumer-oriented data- 
bases. For information, call (800) 336-3366. 

GTE Telenet Medical Information Network 
(Vienna, VA). This service provides informa- 



tion of interest to physicians, nurses, therapists, 
and pharmacists. It includes electronic mail ser- 
vices, bulletin boards, access to medical data- 
bases, and information from several medical 
journals. For information, call (703) 442-1900. 

Newsnet (Bryn Mawr, PA). Provides com- 
plete information from more than 150 different 
business newsletters. For information, call 
(800) 345-1301, (800) 527-8030 in Penn- 
sylvania. 

Dialog Information Services (Palo Alto, 
CA). Has one of the largest collections of data- 
bases available. For information, call (415) 
858-2700. 

More than Just Graphs. In a previous col- 
umn, we took a look at some of the major busi- 
ness graphics packages. The primary purpose of 
the packages we examined at that time was the 
production of relatively high-quality business 
graphs— mainly bar charts, line graphs, and pie 
charts. Some of the specialized packages also 
allowed the user to create organizational charts, 
flow charts, and schematics. 

If you're really interested in graphics, it's 
very possible that you would like to do some- 
thing that the packages we've evaluated so far 
don't allow — namely, animating your own pic- 
tures. If incorporating animation into our pre- 
sentations meant having to acquire program- 
ming expertise, most of us would not bother. 
The task is reasonably complex and tedious, 
and, we'd likely conclude, not worth the time 
that would have to be invested. Fortunately, 
there's an alternative to this long process, a 
package that's well worth the time one must in- 
vest in learning to use it. 

The package is Accent Software's TGS: The 
Graphic Solution. This complete animation sys- 
tem can provide creative computer users with a 
variety of possibilities to incorporate into sales 
presentations, training aids, educational presen- 
tations, graphs, and charts. The Graphic Solu- 
tion can be used to combine text and graphics 
via much the same approach you'd take if you 
were creating a motion picture. First you create 
the actors (your shapes) and then you 
manipulate them ' 'on film. ' ' 

TGS runs on any Apple II with 64K (ac- 
tually, there are versions requiring only 48K, 
but the extra 16K is well used). It will take a 
few hours to learn all the features of this fine 
package, but your time will be well rewarded. 
TGS gives great feedback— when you have cre- 
ated an animation and you see it work, the feel- 
ing is terrific! 

Essentially, what takes place is this. You 
create your shapes on a low-resolution screen 
using very simple cursor movements. When- 
ever you wish, you can jump to the high- 



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14. List code totals 

15. List monthly totals 




Saves money eight ways: 

1 . Find tax deductions and credits. 

2. Saves CPA write-up fees. 

3. Allows "before year-end" tax planning. 

4. Saves accounting time; provides input for 
journals, ledgers, and reports. The program also 
doubles as a mini-accounts receivable, inventory 
keeper, and job cost system. 

5. Saves interest expense by keeping exact 
balances. 

6. Saves NSF charges. 

7. Saves credit card interest charges. 

8. Changes your financial attitudes; puts you in 
control. 



PROGRAM FEATURES 

• 100 user-defined accounts • On screen chart of accounts • 
Account sub totals, grand totals • Handles unlimited checking 
accounts • Three minute year-end rollover • Credit card accounting 

• Full editing, even after entry • Check search and scan screen • 
Help screen * Wildcard searches 

PROGRAM LIMITS 

• 2400 Checks per data disk • 200 uncleared items • Scan speed: 6 
per second • Amount limit: $999,999.99 • 100 account categories 

DOES MANY JOBS 

• Finds tax deductions • Single entry accounting • Job costing • 
Budgets and estimates • Mini accounts receivable • Mini inventory 

• Tracks personal loans • Real estate rentals • Stock purchases/ 
sales • Increases "float" 

CHECKING ACCOUNT MANAGER 

• Prints trial reconciliation • Balances checkbook and statement 

• Creates cancelled check file • Prints detailed audit trail • 
Includes check register • Prints checkbook "history" • Captures 
monthly income • Easy to use 

15 Ready-to-print reports I 

• Monthly code totals • To-date code totals • Sort by amount 

• List code dictionary • Sort by payee • List deposits • List 
uncleared checks • List uncleared deposits • List all entries 

• Sort by date cleared • Print check registry • Print selected 
month • Print selected code • List code totals » List monthly totals 



How it works. On your computer screen, you, 
create a facsimile of your checkbook. You see 17 
items per screen and can scroll for more. As the 
computer balances your checking account, you giffl 
each check or deposit its own category code. You 
get 100 you name'em codes. Press Ctrl-0 and see a | 
code dictionary. To set up codes, just type them in. 
You can add, delete or change code labels any time 
without affecting data. 




- 30 00 SUGAR PURCHASES 



Money Street's most amazing feature 

is its "real time" data bank. It accumulates year-to- 
date totals for each of the 100 categories. You see 
these totals instantly. Just enter a check, and look 
at the bottom of the screen. The year-to-date total 
will flash into view with each new entry. 

Pays for itself. Money Street keeps things 
simple and keeps them honest. It can pay for itself 
ten times over just by saving the cost of organizing 
and totaling data. As one customer put it: "Why 
pay my $100-an-hour CPA to count beans?" 

Money Street.. .It's totally new. 

If you own real estate, Money Street tracks rents, 
tallies repair costs, and helps establish "cost basis" 
for capital gain tax treatment. It's also ideal for trust 
accounting, retail stores, and home budgeting. 

Money back no matter what. Why not 

give us a try? If you aren't delighted, we'll give you a 
full refund on any mail order purchase from us. 

Includes tutorial and program map. 

Money Street includes Program Map, complete 
documentation, on-screen demo, plus tutorial. For 
Apple® II, II + , lie. III emulation, and Apple look- 
alikes. Requires 3.3 DOS, 48K. Money Street works 
with one drive, but two are preferred. It's also okay 
without a printer, but you'll miss a few reports. 
Master Charge, Visa, COD okay. Add $2.50 on all 
orders for postage and packing. To order or get 
additional information: call 24 hours and leave your 
name with our answering machine. 

The program is copy protected. We sell back-up 
disks for $10. We also offer a special utility disk that 
makes two back-up copies, tranfers code labels, 
and allows screen sorts of a single month or code 
category. Price is $25. 

Computer Tax Service 
P.O. Box 7915 
Incline Village, NV 89450 
(702) 832-1001 

Money Street is a Trade Mark of Bullseye Software. 
Apple is a registered trade mark of Apple 
computers, Inc. 



*99 



95 



MAY 1984 



snnm 



53 



resolution screen to see what the object you're 
working on looks like. Once you've created a 
shape, you can save it to disk. If you've created 
some shapes using other packages, TGS can 
handle them also. And if you prefer to use a 
KoalaPad or a Gibson light pen instead of mov- 
ing the cursor via the keyboard, you can pur- 
chase an expansion module from Accent Soft- 
ware that ties TGS directly to those input 
devices. 

Once you've created a shape, you're ready 
to move into an animation mode where you can 
trace a path for your shape using simple 
keyboard commands. From here, you can move 
into show mode, which allows you to review 
your film at any stage. A speed mode enables 
you to control the speed at which a given frame, 
a set of frames, or the entire film, is shown. 
Also available are line mode, circle mode, and 
text mode, all of which permit you to add vari- 
ous enhancements to any drawing you've 
created. 

The TGS package contains two disks, each 
disk holding a copy of the main program. On 
the back side of the first disk is a set of sample 
sequences (animations) and shapes for you to 
examine and use. On the back of the second disk 
are some effective demonstrations of what can 
be done with animation. Looking carefully at 
these sample shapes and sequences can teach 
you a good deal about the program. 

In addition, Accent Software provides an ex- 
cellent user guide. This guide is thorough, 
readable, and long— nearly two hundred pages. 



And yet it is not verbose; the examples it pre- 
sents are clear, concise, and useful, and they 
help make the text a very effective tutorial. If 
you follow along with what's requested in each 
chapter, it's very hard not to learn the special 
features of TGS. The exercises at the ends of 
chapters are particularly worthwhile. They do a 
good job of introducing some particularly nice 
aspects of the package. 

So if you want to have some fun with graph- 
ics or have always wanted to create some ani- 
mated sequences with your computer, don't 
pass this one by. 

Take a Tablet and Call Us in the Morn- 
ing. With all the interest in graphics these days, 
it's not surprising that various new devices have 
emerged to facilitate the input of such material 
to the computer. If you're thinking about adding 
a graphics tablet to your system, you might 
want to investigate the following products: 

Powerpad (Chalk Board, Inc.). This low- 
cost product plugs into a game slot, has a 12 x 
12-inch drawing surface, and is a good chil- 
dren's tablet. 

KoalaPad (Koala Technologies Corpora- 
tion). A functional, inexpensive first tablet with 
good resolution, KoalaPad plugs into a game 
slot, and has a 4 x 4-inch drawing surface. 
Much software is being developed for it. 

Hi Pad (Houston Instruments). This is a 
high-end professional graphics tablet that's 
especially useful in science and engineering ap- 
plications. 

Apple Graphics Tablet (Apple Computer). 



Well designed and manufactured, this is a so 
phisticated high-end tablet with plenty of 
available software. 

Clean Up Your Act. When was the last time 
you cleaned your machine? If you're like most 
users, you don't remember. If you don't give 
your machine some special attention on a regu- 
lar basis, you're taking a serious risk; your Ap- 
ple is more sensitive than you may realize. 

Keeping your Apple clean means more than 
just keeping a dust cover over your machine, its 
disk drive, and the printer (you do that now, 
right?). Here are some spring/summer cleaning 
suggestions: 

1 . Turn off your Apple and detach the power 
cord from the back of the machine. Then re- 
move the cover and look inside. Is it dusty or 
dirty in there? If so, clean it. Do not use deter- 
gent; a can of compressed air of the sort photog- 
raphers use to clean lenses and negatives might 
help here. While you're at it, remove each 
peripheral card and clean its edges — an eraser 
can be a good tool for this. 

2. Buy a brand-name disk head cleaner and 
use it to spruce up your disk drive. Dust, dirt, 
human hair, smoke, oil from a heater, food, and 
aerosol spray mists can all be hazardous to 
the health of your disk drive. It needs regular 
cleaning. 

3. Check your printer. Pieces of paper, ink 
from the ribbon, and dirt can easily undermine 
its sensitive mechanisms. Clean it thoroughly 
and replace used ribbons and print wheels. 

4. Clean the outside of all your equipment, 




Now available at ComputerLand, Busl- 
nessland, Softwaire Centres, and at all 
leading computer and software retailers. 
Ask your local dealer for our products 
or order direct from us today. 



54 



WHTAI I 



MAY 1984 



using one of the cleaners sold at your computer 
store or data processing supply house. These 
cleaners have been designed specifically for use 
on computer equipment. 

5. Take preventive maintenance seriously. 
For starters, this means getting a dust cover if 
you don't already have one (and then using it!). 

Preventive maintenance also means being 
aware of problems that can arise from static 
electricity build-up. Special carpets and sprays 
can be quite helpful in preventing problems of 
this sort. Also, it's essential that you use 
grounded outlets— if you're not doing this, or if 
you're not using the two-prong adapter proper- 
ly, you're asking for trouble. Static electricity 
can easily destroy a chip, a disk, or even a 
microprocessor. 



Power surges, power outages, and brown- 
outs can also cause problems for your Apple. 
You may need to buy additional equipment de- 
signed to prevent serious damage to your com- 
puter resulting from external conditions over 
which you have little control. Don't wait until 
something happens — plan for it. 

Apple HI Things. One of the more popular 
products for the Apple m has been Apple Com- 
puter's own word processing package, Apple 
Writer III. Now this package has been up- 
graded. Among the noteworthy features of the 
new version are significantly improved docu- 
mentation, provisions for easier cursor control, 
a built-in interface to Apple Speller, a template 
for the numeric keypad that identifies many of 
the more commonly used commands, and a new 



SPECIAL PROGRAMS 

for SPECIAL APPLICATIONS 

1BVLK MAILER $99. 

A professional mailing list program that includes a sophisticated duplication 
search and an incredible 32,000 name capacity with hard disk (up to 2400 
with Apple/floppy version - up to 5400 with IBM/floppy version). Very 
straight-forward and easy-to-use, includes many marketing features. Now 
with Mail Merge utility and a new low pricel 

"BULK MAILER is both a technological and functional advance for the Ap- 
ple II and as such represents a significant breakthrough." "rife with features". 
SOFTALK, June 1983. 

•Duplication Elimination *Zip and Alpha sorts 

•Broad Coding Capability •Mail Merge Utility 

•32,000 Name Capacity «1-up through 4- up labels 

with Hard Disk version -$350. 'Remarks line 

V INVENTORY MANAGER II $199. 

Newly revised and enhanced. Perfect for retailers, distributors or any business 
involved with sales. Can track up to 2200 items on Apple, and up to 10,000 
on IBM, and provides numerous management reports. 

"INVENTORY MANAGER is among the most complete programs of its type 
on the market today." "no stone unturned" SOFTALK, Dec. 1982 

•Detailed Sales Reports «Ave/Cost & Ave/Sale Price 

•Prints Suggested Orders •Up to 99 Vendors 

•Sorts by Vendor, Dept. , Profit *Prints Purchase Orders 

•Many More Features *Easy Stock Updating 

4* LEGAL BILLING $399. 

Very friendly, fast and complete legal billing system. Features our exclusive 
"Video Time-Slip" for "magic quick" record entries. Prints detailed, user- 
controlled client statements. Very easy-to-use and straight-forward. 

•Prints Lawyer Time Reports *User Designated Codes 
•Prints Aging Reports 'Automatic Interest Added 

•Up to 200 Clients (220/IBM) »40 Character Remarks Line 
•Up to 3500 Time Slips (6500/IBM) 'Includes Trust Accounts 



Available at your dealer or order directly from: 

SATORI SOFTWARE 

5507 Woodlawn Ave. N. 

Seattle, WA 98103 

206»633»1469 Satisfaction Guaranteed 

SOFTWARE 



s SATORI 



utility disk that facilitates the transfer of files 
from Apple Writer II, Mail List Manager, Quick 
File III, and VisiCalc. If you're still using the 
old version of Apple Writer III, you just might 
want to visit your dealer. 

And while you're there, you might want to 
inquire about the availability of the new Apple 
in manuals. In particular, you may find it help- 
ful to look over the SOS Device Driver Writer's 
Guide and volumes 1 and 2 of the SOS Ref- 
ference manual. 

If you're one who likes to take a break now 
and then, you've probably been frustrated more 
than once that some of the great games for the 
Apple II can't be run on your IH. Now there's a 
plug-in card, Micro-Sci's Game Port HI, that 
gives your Apple III an Apple II game port. 
With it, most Apple II game software will run 
on your HI. You must, of course, be in emula- 
tion mode, but that should be of little conse- 
quence. 

Bugging a Bug. In a P.S. to a recent letter, 
one of our Business User Group members asked 
for a brief explanation of a term she had seen in 
an advertisement. The mystery item was some- 
thing called "spooling." 

It's a good bet that the advertisement in 
question had something to do with a printer. Es- 
sentially, microcomputers can do only one thing 
at a time. Fortunately, because they are so fast, 
we don't ordinarily experience much of a delay 
as they go about their business— except when it 
comes time to print out whatever we've been 
working on. When a document is sent to the 
printer, the computer itself has to wait for the 
printing job to be completed. And since the 
printer usually operates at a much slower rate 
than the computer, an unnecessary delay oc- 
curs. Never mind that you're eager to get on 
with your next task; you must wait until the 
computer is ready. 

The solution is to put what has to be printed 
in a special memory area from which it can be 
fed to the printer. Then the rest of the computer 
can go back to work. The process by which this 
is accomplished is called spooling, which can be 
managed in either of two ways — through the ad- 
dition of a card containing the appropriate mem- 
ory chips (the card is added to your computer, 
to your printer, or to a box in between), or 
through software that places the information in 
an available part of RAM while the system con- 
tinues with other tasks. (This second choice is 
the more limiting of the two.) 

If your computer spends a lot of its time 
printing reports and lists, you might want to 
think about adding such a feature. Check those 
advertisements again— maybe they'll be clearer 
now. Hi 



Accent Software, 3750 Wright Place, Palo Alto, 
CA 94306; (415) 856-6505. Apple Computer, 
20525 Mariani Avenue, Cupertino, CA 95014; 
(408) 996-1010. Chalk Board, 3772 Pleasant 
Dale Road, Atlanta, GA 30340; (404) 
496-0101. Houston Instruments, Box 15720, 
Austin, TX 78761; (512) 835-0900. Koala Tech- 
nologies Corporation, 3100 Patrick Henry 
Drive, Santa Clara, CA 95050; dealer informa- 
tion numbers (800) 227-6703, (800) 632-2801 
(in California). Micro-Sci, 2158 South Hatha- 
way, Santa Ana, CA 92705; (714) 241-5600. 





Glide through a full side of programs each month. 



THE TEN DOLLAR, 
TEARTT-APART 
TUTORIAL 

There's plenty to explore in each issue 
of Softdisk, the interactive magazette. 
More than a dozen programs a beginner 
can learn to peek and poke through. 
Move them, modify them, improve them. 
Learn to understand programming at 
your leisure and have fun with a few 
games. Current issues feature a write- 
your-own general ledger series and a 
DOS tutorial. And now— most of the 
listings that appear in Softalk each 
month are included in Softdisk. Save 
yourself all that typing! 




3811 St. Vincent, Shreveport, LA 71108 318-868-7247 



SOFTDISK comes on double-sided diskettes. It is a bonanza of unprotected games, 
tutorials, utilities, educational software, and articles. You keep one disk and return 
the other after copying it. We pay the postage and furnish a mailer. What's more, 
you become part of the action when you send us comments and programs on the 
disk you return. 

"Great in the classroom, too!" 
APPLESOFT DOS 3.3 

I HAVE ENCLOSED: 

□ $10 for a single issue. 

□ $69 95 for a year of SOFTDISK. 



Name 



Address . 
City/State 



^ZIP_ 



Visa/Mastercard # . 
Exp 



MAY 1984 



mum 



57 



Appfe II Forever! 



A Baby Apple That's 
Nobody's Junior _ 




W HARCOT COHSTOCK TOHI1EWIK 

Perhaps the most remarkable quality of the Apple II has been 
its durability; it doesn't take a cynic to ponder just how long the 
now-seven-year-old computer can continue to dominate — yet just 
when we wonder about it, some innovator plumbs a new depth in 
this remarkable machine. And we realize once again that we still 
don't know its limits. 

With the Apple lie, corporate Apple indicated that it didn't 
consider the Apple II a dead issue either; but the He's innovations 
were updates more than breakthroughs. The news on the creative 
front at the time was Lisa. Macintosh, arriving a year later, set 
rumors flying again about the remaining life span of the Apple II. 

Introducing the Apple He. Creative and innovative, and hard 
news in its own right, the He flies in the face of our cynical mo- 
ments—and Apple knows it. With the advent of the He comes a 
new slogan that leaves no doubt what Apple Computer Inc. thinks 
of the II product line: Apple II Forever! 

It isn't what's inside the computer that's the biggest news. The 
He is at heart a full-bodied He— 128K with double hi-res, com- 
plete full-size He-configuration keyboard, eighty columns (with a 
toggle for forty), and upper and lower case standard (with lower 
case accepted even by Applesoft). 

It's the outside that's spectacular. Weighing in at seven 
pounds— with disk drive built in— the He is a natural winner. 

Seven pounds. Less than a bag of groceries. A lot less than a 
bowling ball. About as much as a newborn baby. Probably less 
than your briefcase on a busy day — which, incidentally, it will fit 
into. In planning the lie, the Apple design team combed the stores 
for small briefcases, determined that the new Apple should fit 
into the smallest of them. As a result, the lie is eleven inches 
wide, twelve inches deep, and two inches high. 

The Apple lie is a computer system that you can pass to a 
friend across the table with one hand. 

You can stick it in a desk drawer when company comes. 

You can stuff it under the car seat while you're at the beach. 
With the battery packs promised soon, you can take it to the 
beach with you. 

And when your next-door neighbor comes borrowing, you 
can hide it under the soap. Well, almost. 

He or Not He. Skeptics needn't take Apple's word. Develop- 
ers too are jumping on the lie bandwagon— responding possibly 
even more vigorously, though not more excitedly, to the baby 
Apple than to Mac. More than a hundred developers exhibited 
products at Apple's April 24 bash at Moscone Center in San 
Francisco, where the lie was introduced to dealers. Almost all 
Apple II and He software runs on the lie, but its extended 
capabilities open up new avenues for developers, or make feasi- 
ble some old ones that weren't economically sound before— like 



128K programs. (Publishers are understandably reluctant to ad- 
dress memory-enhanced machines to the exclusion of off-the- 
shelf configurations.) 

Only a few developers already have products specifically 
created or enhanced for the lie. Broderbund has modified its 
new Print Shop to print out in color on the lie's three-hundred- 
dollar companion Scribe printer; the Broderbunch also demoed a 
not-yet-titled mouse-run double-hi-res graphics package by 
David Snider, facetiously referred to as "David's Midnight 
Mousepaint." 

Scholastic claimed the "first original program for the lie" to be 
their Fact and Fiction Tool Kit, a dual program for people at least 
eight years old. Mouse-driven and illustrated in double hi-res, Fact 
and Fiction contains Story Maker, which teaches creativity 
through writing and clip art illustration, and Secret Filer, an easy- 
to-use electronic filing system that's intended to teach logical 
thinking, organizational skills, and how to use databases. 

Double hi-res is a popular enhancement that He owners (with 
later motherboards than revision A) can enjoy; Penguin Software 
leads the pack in converting its line of adventures and graphics 
utilities to display sixteen hi-res colors. 



58 



gum i 



MAY 1984 



Nor is hardware to be forgotten. The disadvantage of the lie 
is its lack of expandability; it has no slots. Not a one. What the 
lie does have is a slew of ports: two serial RS-232 ports, presum- 
ably for printer, plotter, or modem; an extended video port for 
RF modulator, RGB, or liquid crystal display; an RCA stan- 
dard composite video port for color or monochrome monitor; an 
external disk drive port (with controller built in); and a mouse/ 
joystick port. 

Street Electronics gets a head start in hardware with The 
Cricket, a voice, sound effects, and music generator combined 
with a clock. Not wanting to leave lie owners out in the cold, 
Street simultaneously announced the Alpha-Bits serial interface, a 
plug-in board that emulates the He's serial ports in the lie. 

So the He's lack of expandability may merely come down to 
the difference between plugging jacks in the back and lots in 
the slots. 




All the News That's Fit lie. The Apple lie has inspired more 
than a slogan; at its launching party in San Francisco, Apple 
revealed major marketing changes in look and policy for almost 
all its packages and products. The lie's oysterlike just-off-white 
color is heralded as the official Apple color and its "overall 
look" — one assumes Apple refers to the European-looking italic 
keyboard lettering, the long, slender air vents, and the beige key- 
board—as The Apple Look for the future. 

The outside packaging is no less a change. No more sedate 
white boxes with the Apple logo. The new look's packaging is 
brightly colored, with peppy photos on every side — predominate- 
ly red for Apple lis, blue for the thirty -two-bit Apples. Manuals, 
disk jackets, and disk labels are all to follow the theme. It's fresh 
and slick and tailor-made for the mass consumer market. 

It's a good question whether, at just under thirteen hundred 
dollars, the lie is a mass consumer product. Apple's betting that it 
is. At list, the three-hundred-dollar Commodore 64 seems a 
whole lot cheaper— until you add on its six-hundred-dollar disk 



drive. The lie's got the disk drive built in and double the mem- 
ory. When the difference is four hundred bucks instead of a 
thousand, the masses may start massing. 

Lust for Power. The reason Apple calls this eminently carry- 
able computer transportable— a word generally reserved for 
anything that can be moved from place to place by truck or train, 
for instance — as opposed to portable is a valid one, even if it 
destroys a perfectly good word to make its point. Portable, ac- 
cording to Apple, means capable of being used in the process of 
being carried around, like a portable radio. Transportable, says 
Apple, means capable of being moved from place to place fairly 
easily, but not usable in transit. As it's being released, the lie, 
like the "transportable" Mac, needs an electrical outlet to run. 

Actually, it needs more than an outlet — it needs a power sup- 
ply. The one that comes with it weighs about a pound and a half 
and is about the size and shape of a small brick. Apple is encour- 
aging people who plan to take their He's back and forth between 
home and work to purchase an extra power pack to avoid the need 
to transport it, too. At forty dollars, that's not a bad idea. Besides 
avoiding extra weight, Apple's choosing not to build in the power 
supply makes using the He with a battery pack (which, presum- 
ably, makes it portable at last) more attractive. 

Also not included in the He system is a monitor. Apple ex- 
pects many buyers to opt in favor of using their television sets as 
monitors — so much so that an RF modulator is part of the package 
and all mentions of eighty-column mode sport warnings against 
trying to use it on a TV set. It's okay for the moment; even busi- 
ness travelers can make do with televisions as monitors in ho- 
tel rooms. 

To get the most out of the He's eighty columns, though, you 
do need a monitor, and Apple has designed one, priced at around 
two hundred fifty dollars; it's tiny and fits right in with the He. It 
sits on a stand elevated just enough above the lie to let air cir- 
culate; the legs of the stand curve forward from the back of the 
monitor so the monitor is cantilevered over the computer. 

That's now. Promised by September is a small, slim, full- 
screen liquid crystal display. The He's carrying case already 
has a pocket for it. Weighing considerably less than a pound, the 
LCD has eighty columns and twenty-four rows, as is the case 
with normal monitors. In fact it will display anything a regular 
monitor will, even graphics, although fast arcade-type games will 
leave trails. 

With the arrival of its LCD, and the advent of the third-party 
battery power packs (as well as a device for running the lie 
through your car's cigarette lighter), the He will be truly porta- 
ble—and we can forget the ungainly misuse of the word trans- 
portable in the Apple II world. 

A Manner of Speaking. As it did with the Mac, Apple has 
carefully kept the noncomputerist in mind in putting together the 
Apple lie. For instance, if you boot your older II system with the 
disk drive door open, the disk just spins. The lie speaks a new 
dialect. In the same situation, it says, "Check disk drive." And 
when you're making backups, there's no need to remember 
which is which— when to run Copy A, when to brun FID, when to 
run ProDOS's Filer or Convert; you just boot up the System 
Utilities disk and choose between "Work on Individual Files" 
and "Work on Entire Disks." 

The manuals are totally new. They're entirely in English 
(even pretty elementary English) and are peppered with boxes 
telling hackers not to bother reading on, just go get the separate 
reference manual instead. 

Ilnd to None. The significance of the Apple He is easy for 
Apple II and Be owners to overlook; of most relevance to us is 
that the greater the success of the Be, the more super software 
there'll be written for it, much of which we'll be able to run on our 



may 1984 SOETALlnp 59 



Els and lie's. More significant in the overall scheme of things is 
the potential position the lie gives Apple in the micro market. 

Since International Business Machines 's release of the PCjr, 
the Apple He's sales have boomed. The Apple He, coming in at a 
price comparable to a similarly equipped Junior and light enough 
for virtually anyone to tote around perfectly comfortably, is al- 
most bound to dominate the higher-end home market (as well as 
eating into the more serious-minded lower-end). Some business 
travelers may be tempted to furnish their offices with computers 
compatible with the one they'd like to carry on the plane. 

Then there are those who haven't really considered buying a 



computer yet. In an informal survey of computerless people, a 
large percentage, upon seeing the lie, immediately began plan- 
ning how and when they could manage to purchase one. Among 
their comments: "It's the first computer that doesn't look 
threatening." "It doesn't look like it would take over my house 
and life." "It's so cute." ' T could take it any where with me." "I 
could take it with me instead of my portable typewriter— it's even 
lighter than my typewriter." "It's just right for the kids." "It 
doesn't look like a machine." "It fits." 

Light, sassy, sweet. Go on, just try to ignore the delicious lie 
in your future. Ill 



Carry On Apple 

The lie Bows in Europe 

Fred Bullock, a sharp young Englishman who moved to Paris 
to join Apple Computer International (see Exec article), is the 
product marketing manager in Europe for the Apple Uc— which 
until April 24 was code-named in Europe "Picasso." The han- 
dling of the He, announced simultaneously in the United States 
and Europe and introduced to dealers more or less at the same 
time on both sides of the Atlantic, demonstrates the sometimes 
complicated preparation needed to introduce a major new product. 

Bullock, who has been involved with the European introduc- 
tion of the Uc since November of last year, says the process of in- 
troducing a new product all starts with MRDs (manufacturing re- 
quirement documents). An MRD is a report incorporating infor- 
mation gathered from talks with dealers and end user surveys indi- 
cating the manufacturing requirements for a product in a par- 
ticular region. 

In Europe, a region which is actually a dozen very different 
countries with a potentially wide range of specific requirements, 
the details of the MRD can get quite complicated. In Sweden, for 
instance, there is considerable pressure from unions to ban sales 
of computers that do not have detachable keyboards. Likewise 
there is a push in Germany and Sweden, possibly the two most 
ergonomically conscious countries in the world, to ban sales of 
video monitors that do not have amber displays. 

The two MRDs from Europe and the U.S. are combined to 
form a global MRD that is sent to the engineering department, 
which, in turn, produces an ERS (engineering response). Then 
there is a "kind of tennis match between the engineering and 
marketing departments that takes two to three months," says 
Bullock. Once the volleying is over, a PIP (product introduction 
plan) is created for both the U.S. and Europe. 

The PIP defines the product and its market. The PIP, at least in 
the case of Europe, details any localization requirements. For in- 
stance, in most of the countries in Europe the video display in- 
terface must comply with the PAL standard, as opposed to the 
NCST standard in the States. Keyboards, character PROMS, 
manuals, and servicing strategies must also be localized. The PIP 
also defines how the product is going to be promoted in the dif- 
ferent areas. 

Another important aspect of getting a product ready for market 
is the seeding of systems to local developers. "One of Apple's 
main concerns is to maintain system compatibility— between the 
He and lie— with the n Plus. It's important that the new version of 
the famous Apple n still run 90 percent of the existing software. 
But it's also important that there be new software for a new ma- 
chine." 

With this in mind, Apple has seeded eighteen systems 
throughout Europe with the goal of having localized software 
ready for the launch of the lie. 



The Uc is an ambitious attempt to enter the high end of the dif- 
ficult European consumer market. The Uc is seen as having the 
best opportunity for success when marketed as a personal produc- 
tivity tool for businesspeople, though its portability means it may 
double frequently as a home machine. 

"As a machine for the European consumer market, we see the 
Uc as affordable enough for people to buy with their own money; 
it's also easy to use, easy to carry, and easy to install," says 
Bullock. 

"In America the Uc is squarely aimed at the mass consumer 
market, ' ' Bullock continues . ' 'But in Europe the consumer market 
is not as developed as it is in the States. Here, people will spend up 
to $600. There is a big void between $600 and $1 ,500, and we see 
the Uc as existing in the middle of that void. " 

Apple, according to Bullock, sees the He and lie existing side 
by side in Europe. The main difference between the two Us is the 
seven expansion slots on the He and the portability of the Uc. The 
He is aimed at education and more demanding business applica- 
tions, those that require networking or hard disks, while the He is 
aimed at business managers and perhaps clerical staff workers. 

"The He is not obsolete. We plan to sell as many He's in the 
future as we are selling now," Bullock explains. Even so, the He 
is expected to top off at 65 or 70 percent of Apple's II family sales 
in Europe within a year or so. 

''The Uc has a lot more functionality than the lie," Bullock 
continues. "One of the things that Sculley insisted on when he 
joined Apple was that we continue the Apple tradition of using in- 
novative technology. 

' 'The Uc is a good value for the money . The price of the He in 
Europe will be approximately 6 percent higher than its price in the 
States. This increase is attributable to the cost of importing parts 
and the freight charges for those parts. The main computer is manu- 
factured in Ireland, the motherboard comes from Singapore, the 
monitor is imported from the Far East." 

The basic Uc package includes 128K, double hi-res graphics, a 
built-in disk drive, eighty-column display, two serial ports, the ex- 
ternal power supply, a standard adapter for a TV set, and six 
disks' worth of software. 

Apple's strategy is to provide buyers with all they need to get 
the machine up and running right away. Bullock says it would 
have been nice to include a mouse, but every extra item would 
have driven the price up and perhaps turned off potential buyers. 
The same is true with Apple's streamlined He monitor. It is hoped 
that the TV adapter will meet most buyers' needs until they can af- 
ford the additional ouday for a monitor. A liquid crystal display 
screen should be available later in the year. 

Apple Computer International, located in Neuilly-sur-Seine 
just outside Paris, is Apple's strategic headquarters for all of 
Europe and handles the introduction of products and setting up of 
initial marketing strategies and pricing structures. After three 
months, the individual countries — France, The United Kingdom, 
Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, 
Denmark, the Netherlands, Turkey, Yugoslavia, West Germany, 
Belgium, Austria, Finland, Cyprus, Malta, and Israel— take over 
the responsibilities of managing a product. "They know the in- 
dividual markets better than we ever could," says Bullock. "M 



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By Jim Merritt 



Jungle Fever, Part 14 



In Your Letter. An ever-increasing number of your letters have sug- 
gested that this column address the advanced concepts of pointers and 
dynamic data structures. Indeed, the first requests for information on 
those topics arrived well over two years ago. Unfortunately, we were 
covering the most elementary aspects of Pascal at the time; it seemed im- 
prudent then to launch into a discussion of esoteric techniques. After all, 
we had to learn to walk before we could run. In recent months, however, 
we have ventured fearlessly down the darker, lonelier stretches of the 
Pascal Path and have in fact maintained a rapid pace through the thick 
underbrush of advanced methodology. Thus, there is simply no point in 
stalling any further. 

On the Street of Dreams. Suppose you write a letter to the Pascal 
Path but have no stamps. You go to the post office and wait your turn at 
the stamp counter. Eventually, you arrive at the head of the line and ap- 
proach a window. But just as you get there, the clerk pulls down the shut- 
ter, on which is printed the legend "next window please," along with a 
rightward-pointing arrow. So you move to the next window, just as the 
clerk there pulls down his shutter! And on you go, in a scene straight out 
of an absurdist nightmare or a television commercial for overnight couri- 
er service, following the arrow as it appears in window after window, 
your frustration building until, finally, you arrive at the only window 
that remains open in the entire post office. With an evil twinkle in his 
eye, the clerks asks, "May I help you?" But his offer of assistance 
comes too late. You have withdrawn into yourself, mumbling and gig- 
gling, mad as a hatter, just one more hapless traveler who wandered too 
far into the philatelic region of ... the Pointer Zone! 

Me and My Arrow. The basic concept of a pointer is as simple to 
comprehend as the words and arrows painted on the stamp-window shut- 
ters in our fictional post office. Applying that concept, however, can lead 
to frustration and confusion not unlike that which you'd experience while 
playing out our post office scenario. 

To a computer scientist, a pointer is nothing more than a datum that 
tells you (or your program) where to find another, more interesting 
datum. By that definition, our old friend, the array index, may be consid- 
ered as a pointer (and righdy so). Given an Integer variable— let's call it 
I— you may certainly treat its value as a datum in its own right, perhaps 
by assigning it to other variables or by performing arithmetic operations 
upon it. But you may also use I as an index into an array, in which case 
it acts as the address of another value that interests you. If I contained 
23, for instance, then the ARRAY reference A[I] names the same area in 
memory (and so the same datum) as A[23]. If you change the value in I, 
then A[I] suddenly refers to a different spot in RAM. In other words, the 
new value of I "points to" a place (or an object) that is different from the 
old one. 

Integers, Strings, Characters, and many other types of data may be 
coerced into serving as pointers. But this is generally unnecessary in 
Pascal (except in the common "special case" of array or matrix in- 



dexes), because Pascal provides a special type of variable that serves no 
purpose other than to point at useful data. The proper name for this class 
of object is pointer variable. When a Pascal programmer speaks of a 
"pointer," he/she is usually talking about such a variable and not about 
the computer scientist's generalized notion of a "pointer." 

Welcome to My Nightmare. Let's jump right into a tiny program 
that uses Pascal pointer variables to simulate our postal nightmare: 



1 


1 


1:D 


1 


(*$S+ *) (* Apple III Doesn't need this *) 


o 

c. 






i 

i 


PROGRAM 


3 


1 


1:D 


3 


Nightmare; 


4 


1 


1:D 


3 


(* Simulate the postal patron's nightmare, 


5 


1 


1:D 


3 


as described in the May 1984 installment 


6 


1 


1:D 


3 


of Softalk Magazine's Pascal Path. 


7 


1 


1:D 


3 


*) 


8 


1 


1:D 


3 




9 


1 


1:D 


3 


TYPE 


10 


1 


1:D 


3 


WindowList = 


11 


1 


1:D 


3 


AWindow; 


12 


1 


1:D 


3 




13 


1 


1:D 


3 


Window = 


14 


1 


1:D 


3 


RECORD 


15 


1 


1:D 


3 


Status 


16 


1 


1:D 


3 


:(Closed, Open); 


17 


1 


1:D 


3 


Next 


18 


1 


1:D 


3 


:WindowList 


19 


1 


1:D 


3 


END (* Window *); 


20 


1 


1:D 


3 




21 


1 


1:D 


3 


VAR 


22 


1 


1:D 


3 


LHead, 


23 


1 


1:D 


3 


LTail, 


24 


1 


1:D 


3 


LMid 


25 


1 


1:D 


3 


:WindowList; 


26 


1 


1:D 


6 


I 


27 


1 


1:D 


6 


: Integer; 


28 


1 


1:D 


7 




29 


1 


1:0 


0 


BEGIN (* Nightmare *) 


30 


1 


1:0 


0 


(* Set up the list of windows: *) 


31 


1 


1:1 


0 


LHead := NIL; 


32 


1 


1:1 


5 


LTail := NIL; 


33 


1 


1:1 


8 


LMid := NIL; 


34 


1 


1:1 


11 


FOR I : = 1 TO 10 DO 


35 


1 


1:2 


22 


BEGIN 


36 


1 


1:2 


22 


(* Allocate space for new list 
node *) 


37 


1 


1:3 


22 


New(LMid); 


38 


1 


1:3 


27 


IF (I = 10) 


39 


1 


1:3 


30 


THEN 


40 


1 


1:4 


32 


LMidA. Status : = Open 


41 


1 


1:3 


33 


ELSE 


42 


1 


1:4 


37 


LMidA. Status : = Closed; 



62 



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43 


1 


1:4 


40 


(* This will become new last 










node. *) 


44 


1 


1:3 


40 


LMidA.Next : = NIL; 


45 


1 


1:3 


45 




46 


1 


1:3 


45 


IF (LHeari - Nil 1 

II ^Ll 1 CuU — 1 N 1 1— j 


47 


1 


1:3 


48 


THFN (* thi<5 nnHp i<5 thp firQt 

II IL.IN ^ LI Mo 1 IUUC i o 11 IC 1 1 1 OL 










/hpari^ nnrlp *\ 

\\ ICQU| 1 IUUC ) 


48 


1 


1:4 


50 


1 Hpari ■ - I Mid 

I— I ICOU . — LIVIIU 


49 


1 


1 :3 


50 


PI QF (* fnrr^P r\IH tail nnHo 

LLOL \ IUI UC UIU laM 1 IUUC 


50 


■) 


1 :3 


55 


to point to new tail. *) 


51 


1 


1:4 


55 


1 TflilA Npvt • — 1 MiH- 


52 


1 


1:4 


60 


(* nnnfirm npw tp.il *\ 

\ UUI 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 IOW LCUI . 1 


53 


1 


1:3 


60 


LTail : = LMid; 


54 


1 


1:2 


63 


END (* FOR 1 *); 


55 


1 


1:2 


70 


56 


1 


1:2 


70 


(* M C\\ki va/p arp roaHu tr» cimi ilato 
^ inuw, wc die icauy iu oiiiiuicuc 










the nightmare. *) 


57 


1 


1:1 


70 


\A/ritcal n/OiitmitV (* \\ ict tr* ho nrottw *\ 
vviucLi ^uui[juij, ^ jubi iu uc pi City ) 


58 


1 


1 :1 


78 


IF (L Hpad = NIM 

II \L- 1 1 UQU — 1 N 1 L j 


59 


1 


1:1 


81 


THEN 


60 


1 


1:2 


83 


Writel_n(Output, 'No windows. ) 


61 


. 1 


1:1 


114 


ELSE 


62 


1 


1:2 


116 


BEGIN 


63 


1 


1:3 


116 


\A/ritpl nfOi itni it 'VA/inHruA/ 

V V 1 I1CLI I\WUIL)UI, VV II IUUW 










Qtatiw'V 


64 


1 


1 :3 


150 


Writpl n(C)\ itni itV 

VV 1 IICLI I\WUIUULJ, 


65 




1:3 


158 


1 Mid • - 1 Hpad' 

LIVIIU . — LI ICaU, 


66 


1 


1:3 


161 


REPEAT 


67 


1 


1:4 


161 


IF (LMidA. Status = Open) 


68 


1 


1 :4 


165 


THPM (* va/p'tp r\c\r\& *\ 

II 1 l_ 1 i ^ WC IC UUI IC j 


69 


1 


1:5 


167 


BEGIN 


70 


1 


1:6 


167 


Writpl iVOi itni it 

V V 1 IICLI 1^ UUl|JU L , 










'Mqu | hpln v/nii?'V 


71 


1 


1:6 


202 


1 MiH ■ — Nil ■ 


72 


1 


1:5 


205 


END 


73 


1 


1:4 


205 


Fl ^F I* no nn tn npyt 

LLOL ^ y \J KJl 1 IKJ 1 1CAI 










\A/inHn\A/ *\ 

Wl 1 IUUW ... 1 


74 


•) 


1 :5 


207 


BEGIN 


75 


1 


1:6 


207 


Writpl n(Ci\ itnt it 

V V 1 IICI—I l^vUlfJUL, 


76 


-| 


1:6 


207 


INCAl VVII IUUW 










Plpacp *^ 'V 

r icqoc y, 


77 


1 


1:6 


249 


LMid : = 










LMidA.Next; 


78 


1 


1:5 


253 


END; 


79 


1 


1:3 


253 


UNTIL (LMid = NIL); 


80 


1 


1:2 


258 


END; 


81 


1 


1:0 


258 


END (* Nightmare *). 



Remember, the shaded portion of the listing is not part of the source 
text and should not be included in your copy of the Nightmare program. 
We will use the line numbers in the far left-hand column, however, in or- 
der to locate crucial sections of Nightmare as they become germane to 
our discussion. 

In lines 10 and 1 1 , we define a data type, WindowList, as a pointer to 
values of another data type, Window. Figure 1 repeats March's syntax 
diagram for a data type descriptor; the path that describes a "pointer 
type" is shaded to make it more conspicuous. Just so there is no misun- 
derstanding, you should take a moment to convince yourself that the 
definition of WindowList agrees with the syntax described by figure 1 . 

The caret in the type descriptor associated with WindowList indicates 
that any variable of type WindowList will be a pointer. Following the 
caret is an identifier, Window, which indicates the object type— that is, 
the type of data to which a WindowList variable may point. When read- 
ing program listings aloud (or even to yourself), the caret symbol that 
precedes an object-type identifier should be pronounced as "pointer to." 
Thus, A Window should be read as "pointer to Window." 

You Got Me Going in Circles. At this point (sorry), the careful 
reader will begin to smell a rat. "We haven't defined Window yet," you 
will shout, in tones of righteous indignation. Quite so. Indeed, Window 
is defined immediately after WindowList (in lines 13 through 19). The 
compiler accepts these declarations in the order given, in clear violation 
of one of Pascal's fundamental tenets (shout it out loud!): "No identifier 
shall be used before it has been declared." It so happens that the com- 
piler's design permits it to ignore this rule in the special case of pointer 
definitions. That is, object-type identifiers may be used in pointer-type 
definitions before being declared. To see why this situation is desirable 
(and usually necessary), we must examine the declaration of Window. 



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TYPE SPECIFICATION 



SIMPLE TYPE 



(TYPE) IDENTIFIER 




— «-(record>- 



►^ENcT^- 



(TYPE) IDENTIFIER 



3-0— C 



Figure 1 . Type specification. 



A Window variable is a RECORD of two fields: Status, which tells 
whether or not the simulated Window is Open or Closed; and Next, 
which points to the next Window in line (if any). Because it is a pointer 
to a Window, the Next field is rightly declared as being of type Win- 
dowList. 

Since WindowList and Window are defined in terms of each other, 
and one of them must be defined before the other, it is clear that the Pas- 
cal compiler must take the existence of the second object "on faith," 
temporarily, in order to process the declaration of the first. The compiler 
is able to do this, so long as the definition of the pointer type precedes 
that of the object type. In other words, we may define WindowList be- 
fore Window, but not the other way around. 

What's Going On? When you define a data type in Pascal, the com- 
piler automatically determines the proper amount of RAM storage space 
for a variable of that type. If a variable is defined in terms of an unknown 
(undeclared) data type, the compiler has no way of knowing how big the 
variable should be. Without that information, it cannot generate proper 
object code. Suppose we tried to define Window before WindowList. 
The compiler would have no inkling whatsoever of the nature of the Next 
field, and would therefore complain of error number 104 ("Undeclared 
identifier"). 

We may define WindowList before Window because it happens that 
all pointer variables have the exact same size and structure at the level of 
the p-machine. There is no structural difference between, say, a pointer 
to an Integer and a pointer to a Window, even though the structure of a 
Window itself is decidedly different from that of an Integer. (Even so, 
the compiler prohibits you from swapping values between pointer 
variables of different types. Thus, if IP has been declared as Alnteger, 
and LHead has been declared as WindowList, the assignment "LHead 
: =IP" would be rejected by the compiler, because the two pointers are 
not of the "same type.") 

All Apple Pascal pointer variables occupy the same amount of space. 
Therefore, the mere fact that a variable is a pointer allows the compiler 
to decide its size. The caret in the pointer type descriptor provides the 
compiler with this crucial information. From a practical standpoint, the 
identifier that follows the caret is of no importance whatsoever in deter- 
mining the size and structure of a pointer variable. 

The Pointers, Performing in Concert. Suppose that you compile 
and execute Nightmare. Figure 2a shows the state of the program's three 
WindowList variables, just as control passes to the FOR loop that begins 
at line 34. 

The keyword NIL stands for a special value that may be assigned to 
any pointer variable. If a pointer contains the NIL value, it is assumed to 
"point at" nothing. You might say that NIL is to pointers what 0 is to In- 
tegers, 0.0 is to Reals, and the null string is to Strings. It happens to be a 
convenient initial value for our three WindowList variables, hence the 
assignments in lines 31 through 33. So, just before execution of the FOR 
loop, all the WindowList variables contain NIL. 

The FOR loop builds the list of Windows, such that all but the last are 



Closed. The first statement in the loop body (at line 37) is a call to the 
standard procedure New. Here, New reserves within vacant RAM the 
space necessary to hold a single Window, then deposits a pointer to that 
space into LMid. In general, New creates a new variable of the object 
type implied by its argument, then fills the argument with a pointer to the 
region of memory occupied by the new variable. 

After the execution of the statement in line 37, LMid points to a new- 
ly created Window variable. That is, LMid is the value of a pointer to the 
new Window. The Window value itself is denoted by LMid A. 

In lines 38 through 44, we initialize the fields of the new variable. 
LMid A. Status is set Open (in Line 40) only if we are dealing with the last 
window in the chain of ten. Otherwise, this field is set Closed (in line 
42). LMidA.Next is always set NIL, since the most recently created 
Window is always placed at the end of the line, and therefore has no suc- 
cessor at which to point! 

If LHead is NIL by the time control passes to the IF clause in line 46, 
then the list is empty, which means that we have just created the very 
first Window. Consequentiy, we create a duplicate pointer to this par- 
ticular Window and place it in LHead. (This occurs at line 48.) Hence- 
forth, LHead will always point to the very first Window in the list. 

For each new Window after the first, we force the Next field of the 
last Window in the chain to point to the new Window. That is, we over- 
write the NIL value that was previously in the Next field with a value that 
points to the new Window. As LTail is always supposed to point to the 
very last Window in line, we must update the pointer value in LTail 
whenever we add a new Window to the end. This is accomplished by the 
assignment statement in source line 52. 

For graphic summaries of the results produced by the process we 
have just examined, you should refer to figures 2b and 2c. The former 
shows the values contained by Nightmare's pointer variables, just prior 
to the second iteration of the FOR loop, while the latter illustrates the 
content of the same variables immediately before the sixth iteration. 

Just a Case of Mistaken Identity. Before we proceed, you should be 
sure that you understand the difference between the values LMid (with- 
out caret) and LMid A (with caret). LMid holds a pointer to a variable of 
type Window, but it is not itself a Window variable. Thus, the compiler 
rejects expressions such as LMid. Status and LMid. Next (without the 
caret); a WindowList variable such as LMid is a pointer, not a REC- 
ORD. In contrast, LMidA refers to the Window variable pointed to by 
LMid. The expression LMidA. Status names an actual RECORD field 



2a Prior lo creation of first window 
LHEAD r NIL 



2b Prior to creation of second window 
LHEAD 




2c Prior to creation of sixth window 
LHEAD 




2d Final list of windows 
LHEAD f • 



5 



k 



k 



k 



^ fc | CLOSED 



Figure 2. Evolution of linked list during execution of Nightmare program. 




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MAY 1984 



67 



that can contain either the value Open or the value Closed. LMidA.Next 
names a pointer to another Window variable. Note that whenever the 
pointer LMid contains the value NIL, the object LMidA does not exist, 
and the expression LMidA is therefore meaningless. 

All for One and One for All. Frequently, two different pointer vari- 
ables will point at the same object in memory. For instance, immediately 
after the first Window has been created, both LMid and LHead point to 
that variable. The assignment "LHead : = LMid" in line 48 only puts a 
duplicate of the pointer value LMid into LHead! The Window at which 
LMid points — that is, LMidA— remains undisturbed. An example from 
everyday life may serve to clarify this somewhat confusing situation. 

Suppose that you open a bank account and receive a magnetic card 
that permits you to deposit funds into or withdraw them from the account 
through an automated teller machine. Now suppose you marry (or 
already are married). You decide that your spouse should have access to 
the account, too, and so you apply to the bank for a duplicate magnetic 
card. When the bank issues the duplicate card, it does not establish a new 
account for your spouse, nor does it alter the balance in the joint account. 
The existence of two automated teller cards simply means that two dif- 
ferent people may access the same account, independently of one an- 
other. Each card is a "pointer," if you will, to the single joint account. 
By the same token, at the end of the first FOR loop iteration in Night- 
mare, the variables LMid and LHead both point to the same area in 
memory. Thus, if we placed the assignment "LMidA. Status :=Open" 
at the end of the loop body (between line 53 and 54, say), then both the 
relations "(LHead A. Status = Open)" and " (LMid A. Status = Open)" 
would be True, immediately prior to the second iteration. This would be 
because LMidA and LHeadA would name the exact same object (not 
merely the same value). At the risk of confusing matters even further, we 
should note that, at the end of the first iteration of Nightmare's FOR 
loop, the three pointer variables (namely, LHead, LTail, and LMid) all 
contain the same pointer value, and so point at the same object in mem- 
ory. This situation changes with the second iteration, of course, and 
never occurs again. (Do you understand why? If not, careful study of the 
Nightmare listing should help you to grasp the concept.) 

Workin' on the Chain Gang. Figure 2d shows the final state of the 
pointer variables and the list of Windows, just before the execution of the 
WriteLn statement in line 57. By this time, LMid and LTail both point to 
the final Window in the chain, while LHead still points to the first. 

Lines 56 through 80 of the Nightmare program are concerned with 
displaying the chain of Windows established by the preceding FOR loop. 
Obviously, if LHead contains NIL (which it certainly should not, if the 
FOR loop functioned correctly), then there is no first Window. In other 
words, if LHead contains NIL, the list of windows pointed to by LHead 
must be empty. Should this be the case, Nightmare produces an appropri- 
ate message on the screen, and then terminates. Otherwise, the status of 
each Window in the chain is displayed, in proper order. 

A computer scientist would call our chain of Windows a linked list. In 
the jargon of computer science, the REPEAT loop of lines 65 through 79 
traverses the linked list. The loop begins at the first Window in the list 
and follows the Next pointers from Window to Window, reporting the 
Status for each, until an Open window is found. 

For the display loop, LMid is employed as a pointer to the Window of 
interest at any instant in time. It is set initially to the value in LHead (line 
65). So long as LMidA. Status is Closed, LMid (the pointer) acquires a 
value that points to the next window in line, by virtue of the assignment 
"LMid : = LMidA.Next" in source line 77. This assignment statement 
is the key to list traversal, so go over it in your mind until it makes sense 
to you. You will be seeing many more similar statements in programs 
that we will develop soon. 

Notice that the formal termination condition for the REPEAT loop- 
as stated by the UNTIL clause— is "(LMid= NIL)." However, the 
logical termination condition is " (LMid A. Status = Open)." That is, we 
would really rather stop traversing the list as soon as we find an Open 
window, rather than continue on to the end of the list (which is indicated 
by a NIL value of LMidA.Next). 

In the contrived world of our Nightmare, we could just as easily have 
put the logical termination condition into the UNTIL clause, either in ad- 
dition to, or as replacement for the one we actually used. Since the last 
Window in the list is guaranteed by the FOR loop to have both a NIL 
value for Next and a Status of Open, we could have used either or both of 
the termination conditions, with equal success. But what if we had de- 



cided the value of each Window's Status on a random basis? Then, it 
would have been possible for any and all of the Windows to be Open (or 
Closed!). Suppose that we had chosen Status values at random, and that 
they all happened to be Closed. Had our termination condition been 
"(LMidA. Status= Open)," it would have been impossible, under these 
circumstances, for the loop to terminate at all! Eventually, LMid would 
have acquired the value NIL, thereby invalidating the expression 
LMid A. Status altogether. 

The expression "(LMid= NIL)" is valid for all values of LMid and 
so makes for a "bulletproof" loop termination condition. The IF-THEN 
code of lines 67 through 72— especially the assignment statement in line 
71— insures that the actual termination condition will also become True 
whenever the logical one does. 

You might wonder why we didn't just state the loop termination con- 
dition as "((LMid= NIL) OR (LMid A. Status = Open))." Such an ex- 
pression would certainly cover all the bases, but it is unsuitable as a 
termination condition, because in Pascal all Boolean expressions are 
evaluated completely. For this particular example, Pascal would always 
evaluate both subexpressions, "(LMid= NIL)" and "(LMidA. Status = 
Open)," before combining their values with the OR operation. Unfortu- 
nately, whenever LMid contains NIL, there is no such thing as 
LMidA. Status! The hypothetical "all-inclusive" termination condition 
contains a built-in paradox that is avoided by the somewhat more ob- 
scure, but definitely more reliable code that is actually used in 
Nightmare. 

On and On. ... As you can well imagine, the Nightmare program is 
only a small tidbit, intended to whet your appetite to learn more about 
pointers. By now, you should be asking many questions, including: (1) 
Where does Pascal's New procedure get the memory that it allocates?; 
(2) Why bother to use pointers at all? 

While it is impossible to cover this rich topic thoroughly in just a few 
magazine pages, we'll nevertheless try to do just that in next month's 
Softalk. Be here in thirty days, when we'll learn that pointing at someone 
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69 




Since this is the last class meeting, and since 
we're all anxious to start our summer vacations 
early, we'll keep things nice and short. 

But before we go tramping off to our respec- 
tive summer resorts, let's take a look at an area 
that's often neglected— computers in education. 

Kids Are People, Too. Microcomputers are 
usually referred to as personal computers and 
home computers. Images of someone taking 
care of home finances or office work come to 
mind when we hear such terms. 

Computers fall naturally into number-related 
functions such as statistics, accounting, and 
calculating. 

While education is an area of computing that 
is often considered secondary, computers can 
also function as teachers and teachers' aides, 
both at home and at school. 

Before the introduction of microcomputers, 
very few schools had computers; and the com- 
puters they did have were rickety old machines 
that printed everything on paper instead of to a 
video screen. Computers in schools were used 
for teaching about computers. Older kids would 
learn Basic, write simple programs, and feel 
like geniuses. But when microcomputers en- 
tered the scene, they made computing faster and 
easier. It wasn't too long before someone got a 
bright idea. It's said to have happened like this : 

Idea person: Know what I think? 

Other person: No, what? 

Idea person: I think it would be great to have 
microcomputers in elementary and junior high 
schools. 

Other person: Why? Kids can learn com- 
puting when they get to high school. 

Idea person: Yeah, but I'll bet teachers 
could use computers to help teach kids all kinds 
of stuff. 

Other person: To teach what? 

Idea person: All kinds of stuff! 

Other person: Oh. 

Well, maybe not just like that. The idea of 
using computers as educational tools is based on 
other ideas such as computers can be fun, learn- 
ing should be fun, and computers are patient. 



Graduation Day 

Add up those ideas and the sum is that com- 
puters are patient "teachers" that can make 
learning fun. 

Of course, the computer doesn't know it's 
patient; it just doesn't know how to be frus- 
trated. Also, computers demand interaction. 
They respond to people, but only if they receive 
input. Response gives students the feeling 
they're receiving attention. 

If young people become comfortable with 
computers at an early age, they may have better 
success in jobs later in life. As idealistic as that 
sounds, consider this: How many of us were 
given the opportunity to use typewriters, adding 
machines, industrial machinery, dental drills, 
columnar pads, and other work-related tools so 
early in life? 

There's educational software to teach almost 
any subject from shape and color recognition to 
organic chemistry. And not all software is for 
school use; many programs are designed for 
preschoolers to use in the home. One popular 
program that used to be included with the pur- 
chase of an Apple was Lemonade Stand (now a 
cult classic). It's fun to play, and it has the latent 
function of teaching players some elementary 
business economics. 

Teachers Are People, Too. Not everyone 
agrees that the computer is the best teaching 
aide. Though there can be little doubt that ex- 
posure to computers helps kids -learn about the 
machines, some educators feel there is no 
substitution for human interaction. A computer 
can present material but it can't offer vocal rein- 
forcement, a pat on the back, or even a smile. 
And then there's software. 

Few programmers are good teachers, and 
few teachers are good programmers. One of the 
problems with introducing computers into 
schools is that sometimes teachers know as little 
about computers as their students. Much educa- 
tional software is available, but its quality is 
questionable. There's bad software in all areas 
of computing, noticeably in education. Also, 
prices are often comparable to other kinds of 
software, and schools don't have the money. 



Another problem is that most microcom- 
puters have 64K or less in RAM, which puts a 
limit on what software programmers can 
develop. Just how many chapters can be 
crammed onto one disk? 

Computers as part of education in the class- 
room and at home are becoming more common; 
to kids, the computer is another new tool, just 
like books, pencils, crayons, and chalk and 
chalkboards. As they learn the subjects that 
computer programs teach, they learn to accept 
computers as part of life. 

Look How Far We've Come. Not long ago 
computers were things of science fiction mov- 
ies. Then they became bureaucratic monsters 
that made life miserable for us at bill-paying 
time. And then they were machines that other 
people had and we were scared to touch. 

Computers put everyone on the same level 
as little kids; when you're a kid, everything is 
new. The environment is for exploring. It was 
fun to watch people at computer shows and 
stores walk up to an unattended machine and 
think about whether they should touch it or 
not, and if they touched it, what it would do. 
Wonder and discovery were part of the fun and 
the magic. 

Then computers became available to con- 
sumers; first it was consumers with lots of 
money, then it was consumers with almost lots 
of money, and now it's consumers who wish 
they had lots of money but don't— nonetheless, 
they have enough for a home computer. 

Computers entered the home, and we dis- 
covered that there was little to fear. We control 
them, not the other way around. They have 
switches telling them whether they're on or off, 
which only we humans can control. Computers 
are tools like the calculator, clothes iron, 
blender, food processor, and automobile; 
they're not uncontrollable machines like robots 
on The Twilight Zone. 

About the same time we discovered com- 
puters we found out what software is and how it 
makes our interaction with computers easier. 
The computer follows instructions given to it by 



70 

people. If we can't speak the computer's lan- 
guage in order to communicate with it, there are 
creatures called programmers who can. Pro- 
grammers create software that makes it easy for 
us to use the computer. This computer craze 
just keeps getting better all the time, doesn't it? 

In this section of Softalk we've covered how 
to run commercial software. We've learned 
what to do if things go wrong and how to reduce 
the chances of similar disasters in the future. 
We've taken the lid off the Apple and found out 
what most of those chips are for, and we've 
looked at how things are structured inside the 
chips. Just as important, we took all those 
words computer people like to use (and misuse) 
and found out what they mean. 

With this foundation of computer knowl- 
edge, we can either use it to help us work more 
at ease with computers or we can build upon it. 
For those who wish to go on and learn program- 
ming, more power to you. For everyone, even 
those who are comfortable booting and using 
software and will never even think about writ- 
ing a line of Basic, there's still more to con- 
sider. Fortunately, it's nontechnical. 

You Say You Want a Revolution? A few 
years ago, people started talking about a com- 
puter revolution. "Dig in; it's coming," they 
said. Actually, it was already happening, and 
it's still happening. Almost everything we read 
in the news about computers mentions how rap- 
idly prices are dropping, how computers are be- 
coming more common in schools and in homes, 
and how they will affect our lives. 

Books like Megatrends, The Third Wave, 
and Future Shock are fascinating works that ex- 
amine the future. They're fascinating because 
they examine a future most of us won't be 
around to see. Let's concern ourselves with the 
immediate future. 

Home computers have already affected our 
lives; besides having reduced the size of our 
bank accounts, they've changed the way we 
think. While some people at the office reach 
for a spreadsheet program or word processor 
when work needs to be done, others come 
home from work or school and boot up their fa- 
vorite games. Both groups of people are likely 
to wonder, "How did I ever get along without 
my Apple?" 

As we said many months ago, computers 
don't let us do things that weren't possible 
before; they just let us do them faster and 
easier. Before VisiCalc and Multiplan there 
were the green worksheets; before Wizardry 
there was the board version of Dungeons & 
Dragons; before Apple Writer there were pen- 
cils, pens, and typewriters. That's how we got 
along without our Apples. 

So now we have computers, and we're using 
them. And because they help us do so many 
things more efficiently, it's easy to forget the 
first thing we learned about computing — we are 
the ones in charge. The way people in southern 
California have become slaves to their cars, 
some computer owners have likewise become 
dependent on their machines. You know the 
type; no matter how easy it is to pick up a per- 
sonal phone directory and find Uncle Stephen's 
number, they'll spend several minutes booting a 
phone list database, looking for the right data 
disk, and searching for the number. 




SUDXLI 



There's also the infamous computerized 
Christmas card list. All you have to do to print 
mailing labels for your holiday greeting cards is 
press a key. Presto! In minutes, everybody's 
name and address is on a label in beautiful dot- 
matrix (or even letter-quality!) computer print. 
Just imagine how touched the recipient will be 
to receive such a personalized card. 

Rehumanize Ourselves. The point is that 
some things are done better the old way : Thank- 
you notes to Mom and Dad are more effective if 
they don't look like computerized junk mail; 
balancing the checkbook is often easier by pen- 
cil and paper if you don't write a lot of checks; 
sometimes even business letters look better 
when they're typed on a good-quality typewriter 
than if they're computer-generated; it's more 
fun to play checkers against a person than 
against the Apple— computers don't "take 
back" moves, which makes it harder to provoke 
an argument. Apples are powerful tools, but 
just because they're there doesn't mean we have 
to use them all the time. 

Ask this: "Why did I get a computer in the 
first place?" Certainly the answer can't be "So 
I could sit in front of a keyboard and screen 
looking like a confused fool." Nope. It prob- 
ably had something to do with any of three 
things: to make some tasks easier, to use as an 
educational tool for the kids, to give you the 
power of a computer in the home or office. For 
whatever reason, it was an expensive invest- 
ment, which makes us feel obligated to use the 
machine as often as possible. 

Try to think of the computer in a different 
way; think of it as we've often referred to it— as 
a tool or a convenience. It's less troublesome to 
pull the occasional weed or two instead of hir- 
ing a gardener for the job. It's easier to scram- 
ble a few eggs with a fork than to haul out the 
Mixmaster. It's faster to walk next door for that 
cup of sugar than to start up the car and drive. 
(By the way, has anybody ever really borrowed 
a cup of sugar from next door?) 

As versatile as the computer is, it isn't for 
everything. But it could be. 

Sure, it's easier to write "lunch with the 
boss on Wednesday" on a scrap of paper than it 
is to boot Micro Paper Scraps and make a com- 
puter entry; however, scraps of paper can 
become lost and are sometimes forgotten. But 
just because it's a hassle to use the computer for 
certain tasks doesn't mean it will always be 
that way. 

If we think of the computer as a tool, it 
becomes obvious that, like other tools, the com- 
puter will go through refinement over and over 
again, possibly forever. Look at televisions; 
every year they get fancier, providing more 
conveniences than before. (There's an anecdote 
about a man who remarked that when televi- 
sions first came out they had screens that were 
only a few inches wide. Referring to today's 
pocket-size televisions, he said, "It amazes me 
how it took us thirty years to get them that 
small again.") 

Computers and Rolled-Up Newspapers. 
Refining the computer is like training pets to do 
tricks. Just as the Apple II hasn't the faintest 
idea what you mean when you type, "Hello, 
what's your name?", a month-old puppy 
doesn't know what you mean when you give the 



MAY 1984 



command, "Sit!" To teach the puppy to sit, we 
usually give the command while trying to push 
its rear end to the ground. Heaven knows what 
the puppy is thinking when some big two-legged 
animal is playing games with the puppy's rear 
end, but it eventually learns to associate the 
word sit with planting its bottom to the ground. 
Likewise, the computer was "taught" by pro- 
grammers to display a disk's contents when 
someone types catalog. 

As the puppy grows up and becomes a dog, 
we can teach it more sophisticated tricks like 
shaking hands, rolling over, jumping up and 
down like an idiot, and fetching Frisbees. Not 
all dogs have what it takes to learn and perform 
complicated tricks, and not all computers are 
equally intelligent; they depend on their 
creators and the software's programmer to 
"teach" them to do sophisticated tricks. 

Computers are getting more intelligent all 
the time, but they're still far from being power- 
ful enough to dominate us. It would be nice to 
be able to type Give me the current value of the 
English pound and have the computer under- 
stand you, dial up an information service, find 
out the value of the pound, and report back to 
you. It would be even nicer to be able to just say 
the words and have the computer understand 
your voice and carry out the command. Some- 
day it might. 

In Beginners' Corner, we learned only the 
basics about a lot of things. For those who wish 
to learn more about programming and tinker- 
ing, there are many other magazines and books 
that cover such areas. There are even how-to 
books that cover specific programs like dBase 
II, VisiCalc, WordStar, and Apple Writer. It's 
ironic that we buy computers to make our work 
easier, only to find that we need books and 
tutorials to make using the computer and its pro- I 
grams easier. 

It's Okay To Be Human, Too. Don't feel 
bad if the urge to learn the sophisticated art of 
programming doesn't hit you; it's a hobby and J 
occupation to some, but it's not necessary for < 
everyone who wants to use a computer. Years I 
ago, you had to have at least a moderately 
technical background to work with a computer. 
Later, all you had to know were a few computer 
commands and how to type. With Apple's Lisa ! 
and Macintosh all you have to know how to do ! 
is point and click; with Hewlett-Packard's HP 
150 microcomputer, issuing commands has 
been replaced by touching the screen. 

Computer engineers make their living by 
making machines easier for people to use. A lot j 
of us used to feel uneasy around computers I 
because we didn't understand them; some still 
don't. The way computers are developing, soon 1 
there may not be a lot to understand in order to 
get our work done. 

Technically oriented people will always be 
around. For the rest of us, the day will come ; 
when the computer evolves as the radio and 
automobile did. Just switch it on and go. Con- 
fusing and complicated as they can be, com- 
puters are providing us with a wealth of stories 
to tell the grandchildren ("Why, in those days 
we had to actually memorize DOS com- 
mands!"). 

In the meantime, have fun. These are the 
good of days. !■ 




You don't have 
to take it 
anymore. • • 

There's got to be 
a better way. . . 
And there is! 

POSTAGE SAVER Ila 

For Apple +, Apple lie, III emulation and lookalikes$150 00 



• Postage Saver Ila is just plain EASY 

TO USE 

• MORE THAN A MAILING LIST 

PROGRAM 

• Postage Saver Ila SAVES YOU TIME 



• Postage Saver Ila SAVES MONEY 



• MONEY BACK GUARANTEE 

(when purchased direct from us) 



... SO WHO NEEDS IT ... EVERYONE 

Everyone has a Christmas card list, a list of birthdays and 
anniversaries. Many have information lists of video films, stamp 
and other collections and hobbies. Sure Postage Saver Ila has much 
more power than needed for any of these, but that's okay ... it's so 
easy to use, no complicated set ups, and maybe later you'll become 
secretary to a club or organization... 

CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS can use the mailing list features 
(and possibly save some postage) and other information storage 
such as membership dues, committee members, etc. 

SMALL BUSINESSES will find Postage Saver Ila invaluable. 
From the obvious mailing and information storage features to 
simple invoices, general record keeping, automatic alphabetizing, 
and letter merge capabilities are a few of the many uses. (We hear of 
new uses every day — it's surprising even us). But the big PLUS is the 
fast and easy information retrieval ... sorting by name, letter or 
code. 

Compare Postage Saver Has features with ANY program for 
Apples... you'll find we're in a category by ourselves. 





See your nearest friendly dealer, or to order or for 

Information GRAY MATTER LIMITED 



FEATURES 

DATA ENTRY 

• 1 to 19 lines of information per 
entry • 30 to 570 characters per entry 

• 4624 to 238 entries per data disk • 
30 characters per line of information 

• Upper and lowercase capability for 
those without it • Define your own 
line headings • Automatically saves 
data to help prevent loss of data due 
to power failure • Defineable left and 
right margins • You can default any 
line of information to save typing • 
Enter names as quickly as you can 
type • Use "ctrl p" for a screen dump 

• Scroll thru your entries, forward 
and backward 

EDIT DATA 

• Search for an entry by entry 
number in less than 5 seconds • 
Search for an entry by name, address, 
city, state, zip code special code, any 
character on any data line within 30 
seconds • Once an entry is found, 
you may edit it then and there • Only 
the first character of an entry is 
deleted for easy viewing • 
Automatically deletes duplicates on 1 
or 2 data disks 

OUTPUT 

• Send your data to your printer, 
another disk or to your screen • Sort 
by name, zip code or any special code 
or group of characters on any data line 

• Up to 5 different sorts may be 
performed at once • Sort up to 99 
data disks together into one list • 
Every printout is dated and the total 
number printed given • Print 1, 2, 3 
or 4 wide labels • Label size is 
definable • Uses up to 6 disk drives 

• 80 or 136 column printer capability 

• Allows for a test print for easy 
paper setup • Can print each entry up 
to 99 times • Print first name first or 
last name first * Merge addresses 
with any letter text file • Print return 
address labels • Print entries in line 
format • Print a single address block 
on any individual piece of paper • 
Print 1, all or any combination of data 
lines you want • You can create 
hundreds of different printouts 

BULK MAIL 

• Can print a separate label with the 
state, 3 digit prefix and entire zip code 
totals for easy bulk mailing 

FRIENDLY 

• Plain English error messages • 
Tells you your drive door is open • 
Checks to see if the correct disk is in 
the correct drive • Allows you to 
make quick data disk backup copies 

• Access to any screen or menu is a 
snap • Written entirely in assembly 
language for speed that can't be beat 

THE BEST FEATURE IS THE 
EASE OF USE!! 



© 1984 Bullseye Software 

All Rights Reserved 
POSTAGE SAVER Ila is a 
Trade Mark ot Bullseye Software 
Apple is a Registered Trade Mark 
of Apple Computer, Inc. 



P.O. Drawer 7900. Incline Village, NV 89450 
or Phone (702) 83 1-2523 - 24 hours 



I I I 1 J 1 I M *V' 





LODE PUIfflEP, WIZARDRY 

^M^mnm cold on apple ii 



It's 1-2-3 for I-B-M and Catalyst for III; Archon, Star Raiders Take Atari 




Top left: Accepting St. Game's 1983 Atari award for Archon 
are authors Jon Freeman, Anne Westfall, and Paul Reiche III, 
along with producer Joe Ybarra. Center: Jim Willis, district 
manager of Lotus Development, accepts Softalk for the IBM 
Personal Computer's 1983 award for 1-2-3 by Mitch Kapor. 
Right: Two guys named Doug— publisher Carlston, left, and 
programmer Smith— admire St.Game and Softalk awards for 
Broderbund's Lode Runner. 



□ At this year's Ninth West Coast Computer 
Faire, held March 22-25 in San Francisco, 
there were an awful lot of booksellers, some 
very mediocre food, and little technical razzle- 
dazzle. And those are about the only conclu- 
sions everyone agreed on after this year's four- 
day extravaganza in Baghdad by the Bay. 

This year, fair ownership and management 
passed from founder Jim Warren (engineer, 
editor, and all-around New Age spirit) to Com- 
puter Faire Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of 
publishing giant Prentice-Hall— which may par- 
tially explain the preponderance of printed mat- 



ter at the event. The big corporation association 
may also have had something to do with fewer 
mom-and-pop operations and a fading of family 
feeling as compared to past years. 

Many veteran fair-watchers at least feigned 
disillusionment. They shook their heads, saying 
that it just wasn't the same homegrown hobbyist 
haven that it used to be— last year, two years 
ago, or eight years ago. Too few software pub- 
lishers, they said; too many retailers; too many 
computer illiterates crowding the aisles; and 
enough cash registers clinking to make the 
whole place seem like one giant electronic flea 



market. But somewhere among the hucksterism 
and PR, the cables and the floppy disks, the 
pioneering spirit (due primarily to MacMania) 
remained. Even those who affected a world- 
weary attitude were there to talk about it. 

There was, after all, something for every- 
body. Conferences for independent sales or- 
ganizations, educational forums, technical 
seminars, user groups, lectures by industry 
heavyweights, hands-on lessons in Macintosh 
and PCjr usage, Softalk Publishing's software 
awards ceremony (more on that later), and even 
an organization called Computer Scientists for 



MAY 1984 



mmnt» 



73 




Top: Left to right, Robert Woodhead and Andrew 
Greenberg, who conjured up the multiple-award-winning 
Wizardry for Sir-tech, and Fred Sirotek, president. Below left: 
Fred Simon, senior vice president of computer marketing, 
picks up St.Game plaque for Atari all-time fave rave Sfar 
Raiders. Below right: Quark Engineering outside sales man- 
ager Keith Wood takes the Softalk Apple III 1983 award for 
Catalyst, written by Tim Gill. Bottom: It was standing room 
only at the Softalk Publishing awards ceremony at the West 
Coast Computer Faire in San, Francisco's Civic Auditorium. 



Social Responsibility (an antinuke group). 
Hardware for sale, software for sale, balloons, 
buttons, posters, and little Apple mouse pins. 

Some people were having a fine old time. 
Mac magicians Andy Hertzfeld and Burrell 
Smith, enjoying well-deserved accolades from 
the Macfaithful, thought the grassroots spirit of 
the fair was reborn in Mac and the upcoming 
products for it. Apple itself, with its eleven- 
foot-high scale model of Macintosh at the front 
of Brooks Hall, was easily the show's biggest 
attention-getter. This could not have gone un- 
noticed by IBM, whose neighboring booth had 



a similar number of workstations (about twenty) 
and respectable attendance. For next year, Big 
Blue has reserved a spot in the next-floor Civic 
Auditorium. 

It was true that several major talents were 
conspicuous by their absence. Sierra On-Line, 
Infocom, and Adventure International were 
nowhere to be found. On the other hand, Pen- 
guins were there in flocks and garnering good 
notices for the Mac version of their adventure 
Transylvania. And Sir-tech previewed the work- 
in-progress Macintosh version of Wizardry. 

Some companies evidently felt that the (con- 



siderable) cost of a booth was worth it in order 
to connect one on one with the end user. Others, 
such as Origin Systems, chose to attend as in- 
dividuals, adopting a low profile to keep up 
with industry trends, check out the competition, 
make contacts, and visit with friends not seen 
since the last show. 

Finding a middle path was Broderbund 
Software, which took a hospitality suite close 
to the show site to demonstrate its just-about- 
ready Print Shop, a super-looking Apple 
package for designing greeting cards, fliers, 
and banners using a wide range of choices of 



74 @| S O P T A L K MAY 1984 



graphics and text. 

Debuting on the Apple II front was SunDog, 
an animated graphic adventure from Faster 
Than Light Games, part of Oasis Systems of 
San Diego. The space-traveling players visit 
fifty-seven cities on eighteen worlds in this 
joystick-controlled trading game. The cover art 
alone is so impressive that it had the publishers 
wondering aloud why they hadn't printed it up 
as a poster. 

Equally as pretty for Apple III fans was 
Draw On III, from On Three of Ventura, 
California, a graphics tool that— at first glance, 
at least— looks to do as much as MousePaint or 
MacPaint on the Ill's siblings. 

Other products notable and noted: a soon-to- 
be-out hardware-software combination tele- 



phone and program from Artsci; a program 
from Pterodactyl that compiles IBM PC Basic 
to run on the Lisa; a Lisa desktop calendar from 
Videx, out in the fall; MacForth, by Creative 
Solutions, precisely what its name implies; 
Rails West!, a nineteenth-century business 
strategy game from Strategic Simulations; 
Rana Systems 's dual drive that can run IBM 
software on an Apple; TNW Corporation's in- 
telligent modem; and Apple's gift booth, which 
sold something like $1,500 worth of T-shirts 
and other goodies the first day alone. 

Spotted in the crowd: Bill Budge (Pinball 
Construction Set), who at six-foot-plus is hard 
to miss; exactly one mime, perhaps a holdover 
from nearby Marin County's autumn Renais- 
sance Faire; and Robin Williams, in one of his 



lesser-known roles as an Apple He owner. 

As usual, the after-hours revelry was the 
best atmosphere in which to win friends, in- 
fluence people, and seek a consensus of percep- 
tion on the microcomputer industry's future. As 
last year, Microsoft threw an almost too self- 
consciously upper-crust party in the 1920s 
baroque-style Flood Mansion. There, high-tech 
shoptalk clashed with old-world elegance; 
longhairs in flannel-and-denim hackers' stan- 
dard issue sipped white wine and scarfed down 
oysters alongside executives in three-piece 
pinstripes while listening to a jazz trio. 

Softalk Publishing put on its Fourth Most 
Popular Software Poll Awards ceremony Satur- 
day evening to present plaques to overall first- 
place winners in the 1983 and all-time catego- 
ries. St. Game editor Andrew Christie presented 
awards for Atari programs. Winning for 1983 
was Electronic Arts's strategy game Archon, 
accepted by authors Jon Freeman, Anne 
Westfall, and Paul Reiche ITJ. Said Freeman 
in his acceptance speech, "Those of you who 
like Archon should probably find something in- 
teresting coming out in about two months." 
Star Raiders took all-time honors, as it did last 
year. The award was accepted by Atari's Fred 
Simon, who said, "After what we've been 
through in 1983, this is a pleasant surprise." 

St. Game associate editor Matthew Yuen 
handed out the equivalent Apple awards. Bro- 
derbund's Lode Runner was 1983's champ; the 
plaques were accepted by programmer Doug 
Smith and publisher Doug Carlston. Smith 
said later that he's been home in Seattle working 
on another game that will soon be released — 
"I've got lots of wall space for plaques." The 
all-time choice was Sir-tech's Wizardry, penned 
by Robert Woodhead and Andrew Green- 
berg. Again. Joshed Woodhead: "In the inter- 
est of being brief, I think we deserved it total- 
ly." Greenberg's two bits: "I never thought I'd 
stand up here again before you, with Robert, 
and still be smiling." Briefly serious, Sir-tech 
president Fred Sirotek noted that Wizardry is 
being translated into foreign languages and has 
been used to talk kids out of suicide, to evaluate 
prisoners, and to aid college students with their 
coursework. "Time will tell whether it will be 
a classic," he said. "Anyhow, it already has 
one up on the Mona Lisa— it has been copied 
more often." 

Craig Stinson, editor of Softalk for the IBM 
Personal Computer, presented a single award 
for 1983 to the landslide winner— Mitch 
Kapor's 1-2-3. It was accepted by district 
manager Jim Willis of Lotus Development. 
Softalk's publisher Al Tommervik, an in- 
veterate Apple III fan, gave the Apple IU award 
to Quark Engineering's Tim Gill for his Cata- 
lyst, which lets the user put applications on hard 
disk. Softalk president and editor-in-chief Mar- 
got Comstock Tommervik presented the Softalk 
Apple awards. Lode Runner snatched the year's 
prize, while— what else?— Wizardry came away 
with the overall honors. 

By the fair's end, 44,850 people (official- 
ly — a larger number of programs and badges 
distributed suggests that an extra five thousand 
may have entered by unkosher means; two peo- 
ple have been arrested on suspicion of ticket 



INTRODUCING 

Ed-Venture™ stories, 
the next generation 
of educational software. 

Now you and your family 
can take a learning adventure 





The first in the ED- 
VENTURE series of 
educational computer 
stories from Blue 
Ridge Software, 
BACK IN TIME will 
take you on an ex- 
citing journey to an 
era when the earth 
was young, smoke 
billowed from 
volcanoes, and 
dinosaurs reigned 
as kings of the 
tropical jungles. 

Along the way, 
you will meet and 
learn about the in- 
credible creatures ^jg£ 
of the prehistoric <gj 
age. Exciting, 
high quality 

graphics will bring to life 
the Brontosaurus, the Stegosaurus, the Diplodocus 
and more. Upper and lower case text smoothly scrolls for easy reading. 

BACK IN TIME is one in a series of ED-VENTURE computer stories written in the 
familiar adventure format that can make learning an exciting experience. BACK IN 
TIME is designed for ages 9 and up. 

Ask for ED-VENTURE stories at your local software dealer or order direct from Blue 
Ridge Software at 703-448-8080 (call collect). VISA and MASTERCARD accepted. 
Available for Apple II, II+, lie. Soon to be on IBM PCjr.™ and Commodore 64™ 



1 

m 



UjQKE 
SOFTWARE 



P.O. Box 461 
Merrifield, Virginia 
22116 

© Copyright 1984, 
Blue Ridge Software Co. 



ED- VENTURE is a trademark of 
Blue Ridge Software Co. 
Apple II, II + , lie are trademarks of 
Apple Computer, Inc. 
IBM PCjr. Is a trademark of 
International Business Machines. 
Commodore 64 is a trademark of 
Commodore Electronics, Ltd. 



APPLIED ENGINEERING IS 100% APPLE 

Thar s Why We're So Good At It! 



THE NEW TIMEMASTER II 
« , ; riH.-r-M'.'.jH 



Automatically date 
stamps tiles with 
PRO-DOS 




NEW 1984 
DESIGN 
An official 
PRO-DOS Clock 



Just plug it in and your programs can read the year, month, date, day, 
and time to 1 millisecond! The only clock with both year and ms. 
A rechargeable NiCad battery will keep the TIMEMASTER II running 
for over ten years. 

Powerful 2K ROM driver — No clock could be easier to use. 

Full emulation of most other clocks, including Thunderclock and 

Appleclock (but you'll like the TIMEMASTER II mode better). 

We emulate other clocks by merely dropping off features. We can 

emulate them but they can't emulate us. 

Basic, Machine Code, CP/M and Pascal software on 2 disks! 

Eight software controlled interrupts so you can execute two programs 

at the same time (many examples are included). 

On- board timer lets you time any interval up to 48 days long down to 

the nearest millisecond. 

The TIMEMASTER II includes 2 disks with some really fantastic time 
oriented programs (over 40) including appointment book so you'll 
never forget to do anything again. Enter your appointments up to a 
year in advance then forget them. Appointment book will remind you 
in plenty of time. Plus DOS dater so it will automatically add the date 
when disk files are created or modified. The disk is over a $200.00 
value along— we give the software others sell. All software packages 
for business, data base management and communications are made 
to read the TIMEMASTER II. If you want the most powerful and the 
easiest to use clock for your Apple, you want a TIMEMASTER II. 

PRICE $129.00 



Super Music Synthesizer 
Improved Hardware and Software 




Complete 1 6 voice music synthesizer on one card. Just plug it into 
your Apple, connect the audio cable (supplied) to your stereo, boot 
the disk supplied and you are ready to input and play songs. 
It's easy to program music with our compose software. You will start 
right away at inputting your favorite songs. The Hi- Res screen shows 
what you have entered in standard sheet music format. 
Now with new improved software for the easiest and the fastest 
music input system available anywhere. 

We give you lots of software. In addition to Compose and Play 
programs, 2 disks are filled with over 30 songs ready to play. 
Easy to program in Basic to generate complex sound effects. Now 
your games can have explosions, phaser zaps, train whistles, death 
cries. You name it, this card can do it. 

Four white noise generators which are great for sound effects. 
Plays music in true stereo as well as true discrete quadraphonic. 
Full control of attack, volume, decay, sustain and release. 
Will play songs written for ALT synthesizer (ALF software will not take 
advantage of all our card's features. Their software sounds the same 
in our synthesizer.) 

Our card will play notes from 30HZ to beyond human hearing. 

Automatic shutoff on power-up or if reset is pushed. 

Many many more features. PRICE $159.00 



Z-80 PLUS! 




• TOTALLY compatible with ALL CP/M software. 

• The only Z-80 card with a special 2K "CP/M detector" chip. 

• Fully compatible with microsoft disks (no pre-boot required). 

• Specifically designed for high speed operation in the Apple Me (runs 
just as fast in the II+ and Franklin). 

• Runs WORD STAR, dBASE II, COBOL-80, FORTRAN-80, 
PEACHTREE and ALL other CP/M software with no pre-boot. 

• A semi-custom I.C. and a low parts count allows the Z-80 Plus to fly 
thru CP/M programs at a very low power level. (We use the Z-80A at 
fast4MHZ.) 

• Does EVERYTHING the other Z-80 boards do, plus Z-80 interrupts. 

Don't confuse the Z-80 Plus with crude copies of the microsoft card. The 
Z-80 Plus employs a much more sophisticated and reliable design. With 
the Z-80 Plus you can access the largest body of software in existence. 
Two computers in one and the advantages of both, all at an unbelievably 



Viewmaster 80 

There used to be about a dozen 80 column cards for the Apple, now 
there's only ONE. 

• TOTALLY Videx Compatible. 

• 80 characters by 24 lines, with a sharp 7x9 dot matrix. 

• On-board 40/80 soft video switch with manual 40 column override 

• Fully compatible with ALL Apple languages and software— there are 
NO exceptions. 

• Low power consumption through the use of CMOS devices. 

• All connections are made with standard video connectors. 

• Both upper and lower case characters are standard. 

• All new design (using a new Microprocessor based CRT. controller) 
for a beautiful razor sharp display. 

• The VIEWMASTER incorporates all the features of all other 80 column 
cards, plus many new improvements. 























VIEWMASTER 


169 


VES 


YES 


YES 


YES 


YES 


YES 


YES 


YES 


SUP'RTERM 


MORE 


NO 


YES 


NO 


NO 


NO 


NO 


YES 


YES 


WIZARD80 


MORE 


NO 


NO 


NO 


NO 


YES 


NO 


YES 


YES 


VISION80 


MORE 


YES 


YES 


NO 


NO 


YES 


NO 


NO 


NO 


OMNIVISION 


MORE 


NO 


YES 


NO 


NO 


NO 


NO 


YES 


YES 


VIEWMAX80 


MORE 


YES 


YES 


NO 


NO 


YES 


NO 


NO 


YES 


SMARTERM 


MORE 


YES 


YES 


NO 


NO 


NO 


YES 


YES 


NO 


VIDEOTERM 


MORE 


NO 


NO 


YES 


NO 


YES 


YES 


NO 


YES 



low price. 



PRICE $139.00 



The VIEWMASTER 80 works with all 80 column applications including CP/M, 
Pascal, WordStar, Format II, Easywriter, Apple Writer II, VisiCalc, and all 
others. The VIEWMASTER 80 is THE MOST compatible 80 column card you 
can buy at ANY price! PRICE $179.00 



Expands your Apple Me to 192K memory. MemoryMaster 

Provides an 80 column text display. 

Compatible with all Apple Me 80 column and extended 80 column 
card software (same physical size as Apple's 64 K card). 
Can be used as a solid state disk drive to make your programs run up 
to 20 times FASTER (the 64K configuration will act as half a drive). 
Permits your Me to use the new double high resolution graphics. 
Automatically expands Visicalc to 95 K storage in 80 columns! The 
64 K config. is all that's needed, 128K can take you even higher. 
PRO-DOS will use the MemoryMaster I leas a high speed disk drive. 



Me 128K RAM Card 

• Precision software disk emulation for Basic, Pascal and CP/M is 
available at a very low cost. NOT copy protected. 

• Documentation included, we show you how to use all 192K. 

If you already have Apple's 64 K card, just order the MEMORYMASTER Me with 64 K and use 
the 64K from your old board to give you a full 128K. (The board is fully socketed so you 
simply plug in more chips.) 

MemoryMaster lie with 128K $249 
Upgradeable MemoryMaster lie with 64K $169 
Non-Upgradeable MemoryMaster Me with 64K $149 



Our boards are far superior to most of the consumer electronics made today. All I.C.'s are in high quality sockets with mil-spec, components used throughout. P.C. boards are glass- 
epoxy with gold contacts. Made in America to be the best in the world. All products work in theAPPLE HE, II, 11+ and Franklin. The MemoryMaster Me is lie only. Applied Engineering 
also manufactures a full line of data acquisition and control products for the Apple; A/D converters and digital I/O cards, etc. Please call for more information. All our products are fully 
tested with complete documentation and available for immediate delivery. All products are guaranteed with a no hassle THREE YEAR WARRANTY. 



Texas Residents Add 5% Sales Tax 
Add $10.00 If Outside U.S.A. 
Dealer Inquiries Welcome 



Send Check or Money Order to: 
APPLIED ENGINEERING 
P.O. Box 798 
Carrollton, TX 75006 



Call (214) 492-2027 

8 am. to 1 1 p.m. 7 days a week 
MasterCard, Visa & C.O.D. Welcome 
No extra charge for credit cards 



A 



Strictly 
Software 




S O C T A I 1/ 



MAY 1984 




Fly into 
Spring 
With 
Strictly- 
Soft Ware 

Send for free catalog today. 



Strictly Soft Ware 1-614-587-2938 



To receive your free catalog right 
away, send this coupon to the address 
below. Do you want our □ Apple or 
□ IBM Catalog? 



NAME 



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CITY 

( ) 
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counterfeiting) got to check out 312 companies 
exhibiting in 674 booths. This was just under 
last year's figures and this year's projections. 
Computer Faire Inc. prexy David Sudkin 
called the show full to capacity and said it met 
his expectations. Ninety-five percent of next 
year's space has already been sold, with the re- 
maining amount made up of the smallest, six- 
by-six-foot booths favored by startup com- 
panies and traditionally not taken until close to 
exhibition time. The Tenth West Coast Com- 
puter Faire will be March 21-24, 1985, again in 
Civic Auditorium/Brooks Hall in downtown 
San Francisco. JP 

□ Penguin Software (Geneva, IL) has raised 
the price of its single-sided games to $29.95. 
Citing changes in development, production, and 
advertising costs, the company is returning to 
its pre-March 1983 prices. It was on that date 
that the company embarked on a six-month pric- 
ing experiment in which each recreational soft- 
ware package was priced at $19.95, in the hope 
that volume would make up for the difference in 
revenue. The experiment was a success. "If we 
could support ourselves and grow on volume 
alone, we'd be fine," says Penguin president 
Mark Pelczarski. "But costs like advertising 
and development haven't remained proportional 
with the market." Most of Penguin's future 
software will take more than a year of develop- 
ment time, he explains. This is because most of 
the Apple software will be written for 128K, 
double-hi-res machines, a more time-consum- 
ing format in which to work. 

□ Adventure International (Long wood, FL) 
has announced a reduction in prices for its 
newest adventures, including the Marvel 
Comics tie-in line (which starts with The Hulk, 
to be released this month). The new price is 
$24.95, down ten dollars from the standard 
$34.95. Prices on adventures already released 
will stay at $34.95 for the time being, but may 
drop to the new level. Citing reasons for the 
price reduction, a marketing spokesperson for 
the company said, "There's a lot of competition 
out there." Also, the company announced that 
the AI line of arcade games, previously $34.95, 
will now retail for $19.95. 

□ Publishers interested in registering their 
programs to be nominated for the Annual Soft- 
ware Gold Disk Awards can contact Kapri In- 
ternational Distributors (Sun Valley, CA). 
Categories open for nomination include busi- 
ness, recreation, education, utility, home, word 
processing, and database. For 1984's awards, 
graphics, screen display, music, utility 
originality, character originality, and best pro- 
grammer of the year have been added. The pro- 
grams will be judged for nomination by a 
twelve-member panel of retailers and users, and 
then sent to a select group of twenty thousand 
retailers and users. The winners will be an- 
nounced and presented a gold plaque at the 
Winter CES in January, 1985. 

□ Microsoft (Bellevue, WA) has announced 
the appointment of Jerry Ruttenbur to the post 
of vice president of the retail sales division. 
Ruttenbur comes to the company from Koala 
Technologies, where he was vice president of 
sales, after serving with Atari Personal Com- 
puters and Warner. Previously responsible for 
Microsoft public relations, Pam Edstrom will 



be joining the Waggener Group (Portland, 
OR). Her position of director of public relations 
at Microsoft will be taken by Marty Taucher. 

□ International Grandmaster and U.S. Chess 
Champion Larry Christiansen has concluded 
an endorsement agreement with Cyber Enter- 
prises (Cerritos, CA). Christiansen will en- 
dorse the company's Cyber chess and all related 
items, according to Norbert Mikum, company 
president. Christiansen achieved Chess Master 
status at age fourteen and was an International 
Grandmaster at twenty. He currently holds a na- 
tional rating of more than 2,650 and an interna- 
tional rating of above 2,550. 

□ Clifford Emerick has joined Rhino Robots 
(Champaign, IL) as marketing director to 
launch a new dealer program. He will be ex- 
pected to place the company's fully program- 
mable, mobile Scorpion robot with twelve hun- 
dred dealers during 1984. Emerick comes to 
Rhino from a stint with software publisher 
Duosoft. 

□ Sherwin A. Steffin, cofounder and vice 
president, research and development, for 
EduWare (Agoura Hills, CA) has been ap- 
pointed to the Mayor's Education Advisory 
Committee by Los Angeles Mayor Tom Brad- 
ley. Steffin is an educational technologist ex- 
perienced in application of technology to cur- 
riculum development. The committee will ad- 
vise Mayor Bradley on important educational 
issues upon which his administration may have 
some impact. 

□ Broderbund (San Rafael, CA) has named 
Nick Ragouzis to the post of vice president and 
general manager of the company's business soft- 
ware division. He will be in charge of taking the 
necessary steps to develop a more comprehen- 
sive line of business and professional software 
for Broderbund, known primarily for their 
games. First steps will be an upgrading of the 
packaging and documentation for the current 
business line and extensive promotion of that 
line. Ragouzis brings twelve years of computer- 
related experience to his new job. Six of those 
years were spent with Amdahl. 

□ Camilo Wilson, creator of the Volkswriter 
word processor and president of Lifetree Soft- 
ware (Monterey, CA), has been appointed to 
the Association of Data Processing Society 
(ADAPSO) and Microcomputer Software As- 
sociation Section (MCSA) board of directors. 
He will serve a term of one year. Established in 
1982, the software section is composed of com- 
panies that develop and market microcomputer 
software. As one of the six sections of 
ADAPSO, MCSA establishes industry guide- 
lines that deal with software protection 
schemes, international business practices, copy- 
right laws, and other essential software topics. 

□ In a campaign to attain a new level of visi- 
bility for software manufacturers and their prod- 
ucts, Softeam Distributors (Culver City, CA) 
will embark on a cooperative advertising ven- 
ture with the placement of full-page ads in ma- 
jor metropolitan newspapers. Each ad will 
feature nonconflicting software products from 
four or more manufacturers, as well as listing 
two dozen or more retailers in the city that carry 
these products. Retailers will qualify for the ads 
by purchasing a specified quantity of the adver- 
tised wares. Hi 



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The Flo-Thru On-Goto 



The hardest part of any monthly column is 
always the first paragraph. Add to that the fact 
that it's the first paragraph of the first column of 
a series and it's enough to cause a permanent 
catatonic state. . . . 

Whew! Now that we've got that out of the 
way, let's talk about what direction The Basic 
Solution is going to take over the next year. 

This column has a number of general goals 
and principles behind it. The main one is to help 
you expand your abilities to put Applesoft Basic 
to work for you in solving the problems you 
have. To accomplish this, we'll try to show di- 
rect and efficient solutions to specific problems 
and in the process explore the general topic of 
problem-solving as a skill. 

The one hundred or so commands that com- 
prise Basic can be considered sort of an "ulti- 
mate Erector set" that can be manipulated by 
the user to create an almost infinite variety of 
applications. It is interesting to note how often a 
user of an application like a spreadsheet pro- 
gram says, "No, I'm not a programmer. I just 
use applications software like Spiffy-Calc ." 

With a little thought, however, one realizes 
that in setting up a simple template to use Spiffy- 
Calc, an entire orderly structure and sequence 
of instructions must be set up to properly yield 
the correct results when the data is entered. 
Sounds like programming! Henceforth, let no 
readers of this column think themselves incapa- 
ble or unworthy of dabbling in that arena some- 
times referred to as "programming." Program- 
ming is just the process of telling the computer 
what you want it to do on a time-delayed basis. 

Furthermore, it's important to realize that 
the power of the computer lies implicitly in the 
fact that it is programmable. When you run only 
one or two prewritten programs on a computer, 
you have reduced its significance to that of a 
toaster. Toasters do specific tasks. Computers 
are chameleons of function. 

By learning how to properly instruct your 
computer, you can tap into the infinite potential 
of your investment and discover a channel for 
your creative efforts that is unequaled. 

This column will not attempt to teach you 
Basic. There are many fine books on the sub- 



ject and a column within the pages of Softalk 
(Follow the Floating Point) that will help you 
with that. 

Instead, it will be assumed that you are al- 
ready more or less familiar with the overall 
structure of a Basic program and with the com- 
mands available. Our purpose here will be to in- 
struct you in the focused application of those 
commands to help you cross that bridge to being 
able to program what you want. A toolbox does 
not a carpenter make. The command list of Ba- 
sic is your toolbox. Here you will learn how to 
put it to use. 

The Magic of On-Goto. One of the more 
neglected commands in Applesoft is the on X 
goto command. Its most common use is in the 
construction of menus within a program. If you 
haven't heard or thought about the on X goto 
syntax before, your menus may look something 
like this: 

10 HOME: REM PRINT MENU 

20 PRINT "1) PRINT A RECORD" 

30 PRINT "2) DISPLAY A RECORD" 

40 PRINT "3) QUIT THIS PROGRAM" 

50 INPUT "WHICH ITEM DO YOU WANT? 

(1-3)";X 
55 IF X< 1 OR X>3 THEN 10 
60 IFX = 1 GOTO 100 
70 IF X = 2 GOTO 200 
80 IF X = 3 GOTO 300 
100 REM PRINT A RECORD 
110 GOTO 10 

200 REM DISPLAY A RECORD 
210 GOTO 10 

300 REM END THE PROGRAM 
310 END 

You'll notice that this program requires 
three individual lines to process the menu selec- 
tion (not counting the range check on line 55). 
Now, as a clever programmer you might have 
saved a line in your program by realizing that 
the test for X = 1 can be omitted by letting the 
program flow "fall through" to the first routine 
section like this: 

50 INPUT "WHICH ITEM DO YOU WANT? 
(1-3)";X 



55 IF X< 1 OR X>3 THEN 10 
70 IF X = 2 GOTO 200 
80 IF X = 3 GOTO 300 
100 REM PRINT A RECORD 
110 GOTO 10 

With on X goto, however, even greater 
economy is possible. A typical part of a pro- 
gram with its usual use might look like this: 

10 HOME: REM PRINT MENU 

20 PRINT "1) PRINT A RECORD" 

30 PRINT "2) DISPLAY A RECORD" 

40 PRINT "3) QUIT THIS PROGRAM" 

50 INPUT "WHICH ITEM DO YOU WANT? 

(1-3)";X 
55 IF X< 1 OR X>3 THEN 10 
60 ON X GOTO 100,200,300 
100 REM PRINT A RECORD 
110 GOTO 10 

200 REM DISPLAY A RECORD 
210 GOTO 10 

300 REM END THE PROGRAM 
310 END 

Now we have just one line doing the work of 
three. The logic here is that after printing the 
menu and requesting a menu number from the 
user, line 60 will execute a goto statement to 
one of three lines, depending on the value of X. 
The on X goto function works by evaluating X 
and then selecting the line to jump to based on 
the value of X. If X is 1 , then the first line value 
(100) will be used. If X is 2, then the second 
(200), and if X is 3, then the third (300). 

Easy enough, and certainly better than all 
those if-thens. 

But now for some fun. One of the things to 
remember, if you want to discover all that your 
computer can do, is to not be afraid of asking 
what happens when you don't follow the rules. 
As long as the result is predictable (even if 
unorthodox), it can become another ingredient 
in your programmer's bag of tricks. 

In this case, what happens if X is less than 1 
or greater than 3? The answer is that none of the 
gotos are executed, and program flow goes to 
the next statement on the line. (Program flow is 
a term that will be used throughout this series, 
and refers to the path through your program that 



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Applesoft follows as the program runs.) 

The position occupied by X in the on X goto 
statement can also be a calculated quantity. We 
can put all this together for an even snorter 
setup: 

50 INPUT "WHICH ITEM DO YOU WANT? 

(1-3)";X 
55 IF X<1 OR X>3 THEN 10 
60 ON X-1 GOTO 200,300 
100 REM PRINT A RECORD 
110 GOTO 10 

Now, if X = 1 , the expression X — 1 will give 
a result of 0, and the program flow will go di- 
rectly to line 100. If X=2, X-1 will be 1, and 
a goto 200 will be performed. A value of 3 for 
X will make X-1 equal to 2, so the goto 300 
will be taken. 

For curiosity's sake, you may be interested 
to know that this last program has saved a total 
of twenty-two bytes over the original multiple 
if-then version. Not enough for another hi-res 
screen perhaps, but not bad for a simple trick 
either! 

On X Goto as a Multiple If-Then. In the 

venerable Integer Basic, multiple if-then state- 
ments can be put on a single line. This is be- 
cause — contrary to the way Applesoft handles 
things— if an if-then test fails in Integer Basic, 
program flow continues with the next statement 
on the line. In Applesoft, when an if-then test 
fails, the program flow jumps to the next pro- 
gram line. 

This can be useful on occasion, because the 
if-then test can be used to "shield" the other 
statements on the line until they are needed. For 
example: 



'YOU 



YOU 



10 INPUT "YES OR NO:";l$ 
20 IF l$ = "YES" THEN PRINT 

ENTERED YES!":GOTO 10 
30 IF l$ = "NO" THEN PRINT ' 

ENTERED NO.":GOTO 10 
40 PRINT'ARE YOU BEING 

DIFFICULT?":END 



In this program, if a particular test succeeds, 
then a phrase is printed, and in the case of lines 
20 and 30, program flow goes back to line 10. 
This is possible because in Applesoft, when the 
test fails, the remainder of that particular line is 
ignored, and program flow goes to the next ac- 
tual line number. Here, this is an advantage. 
But what about the next program? 

10 INPUT"ENTER YES OR NO:";l$ 
20 ON LEFT$(l$,1)o"Y" GOTO 70 
30 PRINT "Y'S A GOOD START" 
40 IF MID$(I$,2)<>"E" GOTO 10 
45 PRINT"E IS FOR EVERY GOOD BOY 

DESERVES FAVOR" 
50 IF l$o"YES" GOTO 10 
55 PRINT "AND S MAKES Y-E-SI": GOTO 10 
70 IF l$ = "NO" THEN PRINT"ARE YOU 

BEING NEGATIVE?":GOTO 10 
80 IFI$ = "N"THEN PRINT "DON'T BE 

SHORT WITH ME!":GOTO 10 
90 PRINT" UNDECIDED?":END 

This program tests all inputs that begin with 
a Y and prints certain responses depending on 
the input. Line 20 checks to see if the first 
character is a Y. If it is, line 30 prints the first 
response phrase. Lines 40 and 45 check for and 



respond to an E as the second character, and 
lines 50 and 55 complete the process. If the sec- 
ond or third tests fail along the way, program 
flow returns to line 10 to reask the question. 

It is a shame, though, that line 20 and each 
successive if-then must be used all by them- 
selves for each test. By using the "flow- 
through" nature of on X goto, though, we can 
combine everything onto a single line: 

10 INPUT'ENTER YES OR NO:";l$ 
20 ON LEFT$(l$,1)o"Y" GOTO 70: 
PRINT "Y'S A GOOD START: 
ON MID$(I$,2)< A"E" GOTO 10: 
PRINT'E IS FOR EVERY GOOD BOY 
DESERVES FAVOR": 
ON l$o"YES" GOTO 10: 
PRINT "AND S MAKES Y-E-S!": 
GOTO 10 

70 IF l$ = "NO" THEN PRINT'ARE YOU 
BEING NEGATIVE?":GOTO 10 

80 IF l$ = "N" THEN PRINT "DON'T BE 
SHORT WITH ME!":GOTO 10 

90 PRINT"UNDECIDED?":END 

For purposes of readability, line 20 has been 
listed with one statement per line on the page, 
even though it would not normally be entered 
this way. 

The first new concept here is substituting the 
usual arithmetic calculation of X to a logical 
operation. Logical operations test the true or 
false nature of a comparison (for equality or 
greater-than/less-than) and return a result equal 
to 0 or 1 . A 0 indicates that the comparison 
failed; a 1 indicates that it succeeded. 

At the beginning of line 20, if the first char- 
acter of the response string (1$) is not a Y, pro- 
gram flow will jump to line 70 in the bottom 
half of the program. If the first character is a Y, 
program flow will continue with the next state- 
ment on the line. Again, a logical operation 
comparison is done on the input string, an on- 
goto is used to branch out of the line if the 
test fails. 

This sort of sequence can be repeated as of- 
ten as you wish within the usual limits on line 
length, and you may use any logical comparison 
or arithmetic expression to produce the result 
for the on-goto that you desire. 

Study the first listing thoroughly until you 
are comfortable with the ideas behind each 
statement. If a particular item like the MID$ 
function is still a little fuzzy, don't hesitate to go 
back and check your Applesoft Basic Program- 
ming Reference Manual. The manual is meant 
to be used like a dictionary, not read like a 
novel. The more prolific the programmer, the 
more his manuals look as if they've doubled for 
phone booth yellow pages! 

Next month, there will be another Basic 
Solution. Ideally, we would like to respond to 
your problems and suggestions, so why not set a 
pad by your computer now and start keeping a 
list of all those little annoyances you'd like to 
send to somebody else? We're not looking for 
(and probably will politely ignore) questions 
like, "How do I write a database?" We hope to 
get questions like, "How do I find the third let- 
ter in a string?" or tips like, "Here's a neat way 
to use one if-then where you used to need two!" 

Thanks to Craig Peterson for the on X goto 
tip for this month. Until next month— Happy 
Appling! 31 



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MAY 1984 



e ochoonouse 

A 




by Carol Ray 




Telelearning, Traveling Computers, and More 



The Personal Connection. For anyone 
who's been through the correspondence school 
experience, or who has attempted to juggle a 
busy schedule around night school one or two 
evenings a week, or who is housebound due to 
physical incapacity or some other reason, 
Telelearning Systems of San Francisco just 
might be the answer. On March 8, at a press 
conference in New York attended by Donald 
Senese, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Educa- 
tion, and a number of college and university 
presidents and deans, a student was enrolled in 
an accredited college course to be taught 
through a home computer — the first of its kind 
anywhere. 

The student's name is Bobby Cugini. The 
victim of an automobile accident that left him 
without the use of his legs, Cugini is going to be 
working for his B. A. at Edison State College in 
Trenton, New Jersey. Edison is one of the more 
than two hundred colleges and universities cur- 
rently evaluating and developing courses to be 
offered over Telelearning 's Electronic Univer- 
sity network. Others include Ohio University, 
the University of Wisconsin, the New York In- 
stitute of Technology, and San Diego State 
University. 

The classes available through the Electronic 
University system prepare students to take sub- 
ject exams offered by the College Level Ex- 
amination Program. All such tests are given by 
the College Board. There are one thousand 
CLEP test centers; students can choose the one 
most convenient for them. Test scores are then 
sent to any of the seventeen hundred colleges 
and universities that offer appropriate college 
credits based on their ratings of CLEP scores. 

The course listings for the Electronic 
University include classes in the areas of pro- 
fessional and career development, home educa- 
tion, and self-improvement/hobbies. These 
range from "Starting and Managing Your Own 
Business" to "The California Wine Connois- 
seur." In addition, students can prepare for 
proficiency exams or college credit exams by 
enrolling in basic-level classes in either the hu- 
manities or business. Test-taking strategies are 
the focus of a series of courses designed for 
those planning to take such professional exams 
as the MCAT, the LSAT, or the CPA examina- 



tion. Finally, several courses are offered that 
provide a practical introduction to personal 
computers and their applications. 

How Is It All Possible? By now you're prob- 
ably thinking that in order to get involved in the 
Electronic University, you've either got to be a 
telecommunications whiz, an oil magnate, or 
both. Wrong! In fact, all you really need is 
about ninety dollars for the Electronic Univer- 
sity software and Telelearning Knowledge 
Module, which work with your telephone and 
an Apple II, IBM PC, or Commodore 64. 
Classes cost anywhere from $35 to $100, with 
all communications costs included in the course 
price. 

So far, so good. But what about all the pro- 
tocols, user codes, and log-in sequences (not to 
mention lost messages and network shutdowns) 
that you've heard so much about? Well, thanks 
to the three public networks in the Telelearning 
system— Tymnet, Telenet, and Uninet— any 
problems with a network connection will cause 
the system to switch to the secondary network, 
and to the third if another problem is found. To 
counteract errors in transmission, a high-level 
protocol verifies all data sent (both to and from 
the home computer) and automatically causes a 
retransmission whenever an error is detected. 

Unlike other telecommunications products, 
the Telelearning system incorporates into soft- 
ware all the protocols needed to turn a personal 
computer into a host computer. File transfer, 
message storage, and transmission of digitized 
photographs or graphics are all done automati- 
cally and at reduced cost to the user, since auto 
dialing is accomplished without a "smart" 
modem. 

Once you become a student at the Electronic 
University, you and your instructor are 
assigned an electronic memory mailbox number 
on the Telelearning central computer. Messages 
can be sent or received by either of you twenty- 
four hours a day from more than three hundred 
fifty cities in the United States and more than 
forty countries overseas. Whenever it is mutual- 
ly convenient for you and your teacher to 
"talk," a single keystroke is all that is needed 
to initiate interaction between the two com- 
puters. Messages, questions, and answers can 
be sent and received with virtually no delay. 



For the most part, the effects of the Elec- 
tronic University have yet to be felt, but they 
are expected to be powerful and far-reaching. 
The combination of customized, individualized 
instruction, inexpensive hardware, and flexi- 
bility as to when and where learning takes place 
is one that holds vast potential to improve the 
quality and availability of higher education 
everywhere. 

Telelearning Systems, 505 Beach Street, San 
Francisco, CA 94133; (415) 928-2800. 

On the Road Again. "Chips and Changes" 
is the name of a traveling exhibition organized 
by the Association of Science-Technology 
Centers and scheduled to tour a number of 
American cities over the next two years. 
Cosponsored by the National Endowment for 
the Humanities and the Intel Corporation, the 
exhibition uses interactive computer displays, 
robotics, audiovisual presentations, and live 
demonstrations of microelectronic products and 
services to show how microchips are changing 
the way Americans work, play, learn, and 
think. 

In an effort to demonstrate the educational 
potential of personal computers in the home and 
classroom, Scholastic Inc. will be showing two 
of its Wizware products, Spelldiver and Agent 
USA, as part of the event. Spelldiver is designed 
to increase word recognition and retention, 
build vocabulary, and strengthen spelling skills, 
as players dive underwater to uncover giant 
words hidden by "lettermoss. " Agent USA 
challenges the player's planning and problem- 
solving abilities in an action-adventure game. 
Scholastic's two computing magazines, Family 
Computing and K-Power, will also be displayed 
throughout the exhibition with the aid of a 
mobile robot. 

"Chips and Changes" is currently 
scheduled to open at the Oregon Museum of 
Science and Industry in Portland on June 9 and 
run through August 5. Beginning on January 
26, 1985, and continuing through March 24, the 
Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago 
will be the exhibition's host. Other show dates 
in 1985 are as follows: April 13- June 9, the Sci- 
ence Museum of Virginia in Richmond; June 
29- August 25, the Museum of Science in Bos- 
ton; September 14-November 10, the Franklin 



84 



mmn 



MAY 1984 



Institute in Philadelphia; and November 
30-January 26, 1986, the North Carolina Mu- 
seum of Life and Science in Durham. Dates and 
locations for the remainder of 1984 have yet to 
be announced. 

For more information, contact Avery Hunt 
at Scholastic, (212) 505-3410. 

Teaching Pascal. Craig Nansen, a teacher 
at Minot High School in Minot, North Dakota, 
has developed an eighteen-week course in Pas- 
cal programming. A description of the course 
was published in a two-part article in Electronic 
Learning, copies of which are available from 
the author (address follows). The course is 
designed for high school students who are get- 
ting their first exposure to a programming 
language. 

Topics for the first nine weeks of the course 
include "Introduction to the Editor and Filer," 
"Introduction to Pascal," "Working with 
Loops," and "Introduction to Functions." 
During the ninth week a three-day test is given, 
in which students are required to write and cor- 
rect short programs and to solve problems while 
at the computer. The second half of the course 
introduces students to strings, arrays, the binary 
number system, and record keeping. Weeks 17 
and 18 are spent reviewing course material, fin- 
ishing up term projects, and taking a three-day 
final exam. 

Sample programs, tests, quizzes, and other 
handouts are contained on a series of twenty 
disks, copies of which can be obtained by 
writing to Craig Nansen, 1112 Glacial Drive, 



APPLE to Burroughs 
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Minot, ND 58701. There is a five-dollar charge 
for each disk. 

Conference News. The sixth annual Na- 
tional Educational Computing Conference will 
be held June 13-15 in Dayton, Ohio. Confer- 
ence organizers, which include thirteen sci- 
entific and professional groups interested in 
educational computing, have announced four 
major objectives: to present in one forum major 
advances regarding the use of computers in in- 
struction; to promote interaction among individ- 
uals at all levels who are involved in using com- 
puters for instruction; to coordinate the various 
professional groups devoted to educational com- 
puting; and to produce a proceedings report giv- 
ing the status of computers in education. 

For more information, contact Lawrence A. 
Jehn, Computer Science Department, Universi- 
ty of Dayton, Dayton, OH 45469; (513) 
229-3831. 

The Association for Small Computer Users 
in Education will hold its annual conference 
June 17-20 at Western Kentucky University in 
Bowling Green. Special emphasis will be given 
to such topics as academic computing, robotics, 
computer applications in libraries, and effective 
use and control of institutional word processing. 
For more information, contact Dudley Bryant, 
Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, 
KY 42101; (502) 745-0111. 

Summer Session. The third annual Stanford 
Institute on Microcomputers in Education will 
sponsor two five-week sessions this summer, 
the first from June 25 through July 27, and the 
second from July 30 through August 3 1 . Both 
sessions will offer hands-on instruction in pro- 
gramming, word processing, and administrative 
computing, as well as guest speakers, field 
trips, and equipment demonstrations. Educa- 
tors, administrators, and researchers interested 
in staying abreast of the latest applications of 
microcomputer technology in education are en- 
couraged to apply early, as enrollment in the in- 
stitute is limited. No prior experience or special 
skills are needed. As part of their instruction, 
participants will have the opportunity to observe 
youngsters at the Stanford University Computer 
Tutors camp. 

For further information about the institute, 
on-campus housing, financial aid, and the 
camp, contact the Stanford Institute on Micro- 
computers in Education, Box K, Stanford, CA 
94305; (415) 322-4640. 

Lesley College in Cambridge, Massachu- 
setts, is offering an intensive, week-long sum- 
mer course for professionals entitled "Micro- 
computers in Special Education: Today's Chal- 
lenge." Participants will hear a combination of 
presentations by leading researchers and practi- 
tioners in both special education and microcom- 
puter technology. They will also have the op- 
portunity to participate in panel discussions and 
hands-on sessions at the Lesley College Micro- 
computer Laboratory. Little or no experience 
with microcomputers is assumed. 

Some of the topics to be covered are Logo 
and its applications in teaching students with 
learning disabilities, language disorders, and 
physical handicaps; computer-assisted instruc- 
tion in areas such as language arts, math, and 
science; the evaluation of software for use with 
special-needs students; and model programs 



currently in use in New England combining spe- 
cial education and microcomputers. Partici- 
pants will be encouraged to develop individual 
projects for classroom use in their own school 
systems. 

The session will run from Monday, July 16, 
through Friday, July 20, from 9:00 to 4:00 
daily. Brochures and registration information 
can be obtained by contacting the Lesley Col- 
lege Graduate School, Division of Education, 
29 Everett Street, Cambridge, MA 02238; 
(617) 868-9600, ext. 367. Hi 



ThelfaiDBJCjf 
IHETURXLE 

A Schoolhouse Apple 
Tu t o r i a I 

LOGO 

DOflfIA BEARDEfl 

Spirolaterals 



What do the following designs have in com- 
mon? 




If you said they're all interesting, we'll ac- 
cept that. If you said they all seem to include 
some sort of spiral, you're on the right track. 
The designs were all made with variations of the 
same spirolateral procedure. 

Spirolaterals are made following a certain 
kind of mathematical pattern. Mathematical pat- 
terns show up everywhere — in the shapes of 
leaves, the placement of sunflower seeds, the 
numbers of petals on flowers, the construction 
of seashells. Spirolaterals, believe it or not, 
came from studying the feeding patterns of pre- 
historic worms. There's probably another arti- 
cle or two here, but for now, we'll concentrate 
on the patterns and the Logo experience. 

A spirolateral is a series of lines and turns, 
repeated over and over. To construct a spirolat- 
eral, select a series of numbers. To keep it sim- 



Our 

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About a year ago, Terrapin 
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became a big, big seller. That's 
because people like you realized 
that for performance and price 
you really couldn't do any better. 

Recently, the Official Apple 
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That should tell you something 
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Terrapin Logo 


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Saving 

Pictures on Disk 


Yes 


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Word & List 
Tutorial 


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Word & List 
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User-Defined 
Error Handling 


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Program Tracing 
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No 


Workspace 


Larger 


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Suggested Retail 
Price 


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Now, Terrapin Logo and the Offi- 
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But the similarity ends there. 

Check the chart for yourself. 
When all is said and done, it's 
easy to see why Terrapin Logo, 
the Unofficial Apple Logo, is still 
better than the official one. 

Ask for Terrapin Logo at soft- 
ware dealers everywhere. Or call 
us directly for further information. 



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Terrapin Logo runs on the Apple II, II + , lie and Franklin computers, and requires 64K RAM. 
Franklin is a trademark of Franklin Computer Corporation. Apple is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. 



86 

pie, make them multiples of ten. Let's start with 
three numbers, 30, 10, and 40, and a 90-degree 
turn. SPIRO can be defined as: 

TO SPIRO 
FD 30 LT 90 
FD 10 LT 90 
FD 40 LT 90 
END 

How many times would you have to repeat 
SPIRO to draw a closed figure? Suppose we 
change the left turn to 120. Can we draw a 
closed figure? And if we change the turn to 60? 



MAY 1984 









1 






1 






Each question you ask about a spirolateral 
suggests another exploration. Let's add another 
number (side and turn) to the series and see 
what happens. We'll also define the procedure 
using a variable for the angle to make it easier to 
try different figures. 

TO SPIRO :A 

FD 30 LT :A 

FD 10 LT :A 

FD 40 LT :A 

FD 20 LT :A 

END 

Now when we try the procedure with a 
90-degree mm, the figure does not close. With 
a 120-degree turn, it closes with three repeti- 
tions, and with a 60-degree turn it closes with 
three repetitions. 



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Take some time to explore. Try varying 
your series of numbers, as well as varying the 
number of numbers in your series. In all likeli- 
hood, your curiosity will be aroused, for there 
seems to be a pattern to the pattern. Let's set up 
a logical series of steps to search out the mathe- 
matical pattern of closing and nonclosing 
figures. 

Varying the series itself doesn't affect 
whether a figure closes or doesn't close. In 
other words, if we have five numbers in the se- 
ries, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50, it doesn't matter in 
what order we arrange them. SPIRO with a 
90-degree turn will close with four repetitions; 
with 120, it will close with three repetitions; 
and with 60, it will close with six repetitions. 
Each of the numbers in the series represents a 
forward movement or a side. It is the number of 
sides that determines whether a figure closes. 

With that in mind, let's set up a chart with a 
number of sides and turning angles. We'll fill in 
the chart with the number of times the 
spirolateral procedure must be repeated to close 
the figure. If it doesn't close, we'll indicate it 
with DC. We'll work with the angles that pro- 
duce triangles, squares, pentagons, hexagons, 
octagons, and, just for fun, stars. The first two 
rows are filled in for you. 

Angles 



Sides 


120 


90 


72 


60 


45 


144 


5 


3 


4 


DC 


6 


8 


DC 


6 


DC 


2 


5 


DC 


4 


5 


7 














8 
9 














10 














11 














12 















If you've been editing your spirolateral pro- 
cedure over and over to add another FD and LT 
command, you've probably figured out that 
there's an easier way to work with it. Define the 
SPIRO procedure with three variables, one for 
the side, one for the angle, and one for a counter 
so that you can vary the number of sides each 
time without redefining the procedure. Since 
the order of the numbers in the series doesn't 
matter for what we're doing, we'll set up a pro- 
cedure that draws sides in increments of ten. 

TO SPIROA :S :A :C 
IF :C = 0 [STOP] 
FD :S LT :A 

SPIRO.A :S + 10 :A:C - 1 
END 

By using a counter, we can indicate how 
many sides we want. SPIRO.A 10 90 13 will 
draw a SPIRO with thirteen sides, each side ten 
turtle steps longer than the previous one. 

Now it will be easier to continue to explore. 
Try figures with thirteen to twenty-one sides. If 
you have filled in the chart and continued with 
your own chart, you should be able to predict 



which figures will close and which will not for 
any number of sides. You also should see some 
important patterns of related geometric shapes, 
triangles and hexagons, squares and octagons, 
stars and pentagons. 

When the number of sides becomes very 
big, some figures will not fit on the screen. Re- 
define SPIRO to draw sides in increments of 
five, or even two or one. And explore some 
more— you'll discover some beautiful designs. 
Here are two variations of the SPIRO procedure . 

TO SPIRO.C :S :A :C 
IF :C = 0 [STOP] 
FD :S LT :A 

SPIRO.C :S + 2 :A :C - 1 
END 

TO SPIROD :S :A :C 
IF :C = 0 [STOP] 
FD :S LT :A 

SPIROD :S + 1 :A:C - 1 
END 





SPIRO.C 2 60 31 



SPIROD 1 60 31 



There are many other ways we can explore 
with spirolaterals. We could alternate left and 
right turns, for example, or use one right turn in 
a series of left turns. Will that have any effect 
on whether a figure closes? Try it and find out. 

Here are two figures, each with seventeen 
sides. The procedure includes left and right 
turns and the following series of numbers: 5, 
15, 10, 20, 15, 25, 20, 30, 25, 35, 30, 40, 35, 
45, 40, 50, 45. 




And if any of you get so excited about spiro- 
laterals, here is a phone number you can call at 
any time of the day or night. (Oops, it's in a 
spirolateral and I've lost the procedure, so 
you'll have to figure it out from the design.) 




Minutes' 
Worth 

of Reading. 




N E A 

Compatible with 
Apple, IBM, PC Jr. 
and Commodore 64, 



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Does 

your Apple 

leave - 



We've got speed, performance and 3,000 new applications 
to satisfy that appetite. 

Introducing the Digital Research CP/M Gold Card™ The 
pick of the hardware crop for your Apple® Computer. 

Just plug it into any slot in your Apple II, 11+ or He, and you 
get a new generation machine that runs CP/M Plus™ and 
all those programs it could never handle before. 

Impressive, but not surprising. After all, who better 
than the creators of CP/M®to perfect it for your Apple? 

And if you thought your Apple was a bit slow, chew on this. 

We combined CP/M Plus, the Z80B microprocessor 
and optional Disk Cache to push your Apple to perform 
up to three times faster than any of the competition. 

With the speed to handle programs like dBase IT 
in half the time. And we've included CBASIC®so you can write 
customized programs. 




It even boosts your monitor's CP/M output to full 80 column 
video. And those are just the basics. 

For serious programmers we 
also included a macro-assembler 
and symbolic debugger. Explaining 
it all in two complete manuals. 

It all comes down to this. Soon 

there will be two kinds of Apple users. 
s ^V* Those with the CP/M Gold Card. And 

f t S 



13 DIGITAL 
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We make computers work. 5 




those who are still hungry for one. 

The products and corporate logos referred to herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of the companies indicated. 
The Digital Research logo and products are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Digital Research Inc 
©1984 Digital Research Inc All rights reserved. 






SAMS SPUD 
IS ONE 

HOT POTATO. 



Sams SPUD is the 2 player game that's so fast, so challenging, 
one bite and you're hooked. From your fort, you fire three 
! kinds of ammunition to moveltie bouncing SPUD, destroy your 
competitor, intercept shots, gain bonus points, and more. Also 
included is a bonus game MUG SHOT, in which 1 to 4 players test 
their shooting skill&at one of eleven different playing speeds. 
Get two exciting games in one. SPUD/MUG SHOT, No. 26162, $29.95 

Buy SPUD/MUG SHOT today! Visit your local Sams 
dealer or call OPERATOR 147 at 317-298-5566 or 

800-428-SAMS. 





Introducing Sams APE ESCAPE, the fast-action 
game that will have you scaling tall buildings, riding 
balloons, avoiding hazards and evading capture at 
heights that would scare even King Kong. 
The higher you climb, the faster the action. And with no 
end to the buildings, there's no end to the fun! Play APE 
ESCAPE alone or test your skill by trying to top someone else's 
best score. Either way, it's sure to bring out the animal in you! 
APE ESCAPE, for any Apple® ll-compatible system, 
No. 26166, $29.95. 
Don't monkey around, buy APE ESCAPE today! Visit 



Howard W. Sams & Co., Inc. 

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Indianapolis, IN 46206 

r Offer good in USA only Prices subject to change without notice In 
Conaao, contact Lenbrook Electronics, Markham, Ontario L3R 1 H2- 
Apple is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. 



MAY 1984 



sum 



91 




Unless otherwise noted, all products can be assumed to run on either Ap- 
ple II, with 48K, ROM Applesoft, and one disk drive. The requirement 
for ROM Applesoft can be met by RAM Applesoft in a language card. 
Many Apple II programs will run on the Apple III in the emulator mode. 

□ Apple Computer (20525 Mariani Avenue, Cupertino, CA 95014; 
800-538-9696) has released a peripheral called AppleLine, which allows 
Lisas, Macs, and Apple Ills to communicate with IBM mainframes as 
terminals and workstations. The unit works with existing coaxial cables 
and 3270 cluster controllers that may already be in place. $1,295. 

□ Three new strategy games are available from Microcomputer 
Games/Avalon Hill (4517 Harford Road, Baltimore, MD 21214; 
301-254-5300). Dreadnoughts simulates action in the North Atlantic 
during the years 1939-1941 . Virtually every warship in the Axis and Al- 
lied navies is featured in this World War II battle re-creation. $30. Free 
Trader takes you to a far galaxy where you take an option on a com- 
modities deal, ensuring that your products achieve their market share- 
all the while guarding your resources from the raiders of the Thoth Em- 
pire. $30. Under Southern Skies pits H.M.S. Exeter, Ajax, and Achilles 
against the K.M. Graf Spee once again in a tactical simulation of their 
historic 1939 encounter. $25. 

□ A database management system for home and business record-keep- 
ing has been introduced by Softsmith (1431 Doolittle Drive, San Lean- 
dro, CA 94577; 415-430-241 1). Four in One combines major data proc- 
essing operations in a single program. It can perform calculations on a 
defined field, for example, and then merge the field and calculation re- 
sults into forms or letters with a word processor. Menu options, 
prompts, and system messages are displayed on the screen while work- 
ing. $129.95. LogoMotion is an educational tool that can be used to cre- 
ate an interactive environment in which students can set their own pace, 
problems, and goals. Drawing pictures, making music, and creating pro- 
grams can be used to explore the potential of the turtle graphics lan- 
guage. $149.95. Beginning with the "find a city" option, Supermap 
guides learners aged ten to fifteen through a self-paced educational jour- 
ney of more than three hundred cities. Testing is done using a "capital 
quiz" option. $39.95. Couples can find out if they share similar opinions 
on love, romance, values, sex, and spirituality when they play Friends or 
Lovers, a set of "provocative and sometimes daring" questions written 
by two psychologists. Compatibility ratings and answers can be printed. 
$29.95. 

□ A mail-order computer accessories firm, Gadgeteer (1524 Pine 
Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102; 215-732-0965), is offering its LG20 
Surge Supressor Multi-Outlet Strip for protecting small computers 
against voltage surges. With four outlets and a six-foot cord, the unit will 
absorb up to 6,000 volts or 6,500 amperes in less than ten nanoseconds, 
limiting voltage to a safe 205 volts. $34.95. 

□ The fundamentals of football can be taught using the first of a five- 
part series of football learning software from Sterling Swift Publishing 
(7901 South IH-35, Austin, TX 78744; 512-282-6840). Fifty Defense 
Versus Run combines tutorials and testing of concepts and principles 
with reinforcement feedback and graphics, including an automated 
chalkboard. Includes coaches' manual. $99.95. Preview disk, $9.95. 

□ The 1984 Intel Yellow Pages is a two-hundred-page directory of more 
than two thousand CP/M software products. From Intel (3065 Bowers 
Avenue, Santa Clara, CA 95051; 408-987-5320), the publication is mod- 
eled after a telephone directory, with the first half listing suppliers and 
the second half listing products and service details. Free. 

□ Getex, a division of Lockheed-Georgia (1100 Circle 71 Parkway 
N.W., Atlanta, GA 30339; 404-951-0878), has introduced the Data Sen- 
try intelligent modem, which can prevent theft and other security 
breaches without requiring encryption or changes in programming. The 



modem uses a call-up, call-back, and password sequence to thwart data 
thieves and, at the same time, offers all the standard features of conven- 
tional modems. A lower security mode allows users to program the 
modem to call back any number from which it gets a correct password. 
$895. Remote-ON is a unit for turning a computer's power on or off 
from long distance. $145. 

□ A reformatted version of the U. S. Constitution Tutor from Micro 
Lab (2699 Skokie Valley Road, Highland Park, IL 60035; 
312-433-7550) features a tutorial mode with extra help screens and prac- 
tice questions. In the test mode, any missed questions are given again in 
the tutorial mode when the test is completed. $30. 

□ Score your sexual IQ by answering more than two hundred multiple- 
choice questions in Sexware. Designed to educate, provoke, and sur- 
prise, the program is available from Challenge Software (134 West 
Thirty-Second Street, Suite 602, New York, NY 10001). $29.95. 

□ Two new games have been published by Howard W. Sams (4300 
West Sixty-Second Street, Indianapolis, IN 46268; 317-298-5400). In 
the arcade game Spud, two players try to penetrate each other's shields 
with an exploding spud, eventually destroying the opposition's fort and 
winning the game. Time clock and scoreboard provided. $29.95. In Mug 
Shot, an arcade game for one to four players, each player has a fort and 
a field of five mugs inside a trap. These mugs are released against the op- 
position and must be destroyed to win. Eleven levels. $29.95. 

□ Travel from the City of Darkness to Eco-Paradise without falling into 
the toxic waste dump or going off on long detours; this educational quiz 
game asks questions about air and water pollution, acid rain, and other 
key environmental issues. The Road to Eco-Paradise, from Center for 
Science in the Public Interest (1755 S Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 
20009; 202-332-91 10), focuses on environmental issues and tests a play- 
er's personal impact on the environment. Test disk and supplementary 
educational material included. $39.95. 

□ Designed by an ex-Apple engineer, the McMill 68000 coprocessor 
card allows programs developed for the 68000 to run on the Apple II se- 
ries, and vice versa, both in source and/or object code. From Stellation 
Two (Box 2342, Santa Barbara, CA 93120; 805-966-1140), the com- 
plete package includes hardware documentation, schemata, and Fig 
Forth software. A 68000 cross assembler is also available. $299. 

□ Fully supporting all the operating modes of the He, Print-It! Model 2 
is a self-contained card that can handle both serial and parallel interface, 
forty- or eighty-column text, standard or alternate font, hi- and lo-res 
graphics, and more. Complete with handbook and cable (parallel or 
serial). No software required. From Texprint (8 Blanchard Road, Burl- 
ington, MA 01803; 617-273-3384). $149. Educational discounts 
available. 

□ The Apple User 's Encyclopedia covers all aspects of the Apple— ap- 
plications, operation, Basic programming— as well as hundreds of soft- 
ware packages and accessories. From The Book Company (11223 
South Hindry Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90045; 213-410-9466), the 
book also includes information on related books, magazines, and user 
groups. Alphabetized and cross-referenced. $19.95. 

□ Sequential Circuits (3051 North First Street, San Jose, CA 95134; 
408-946-5240) has introduced a single-board polyphonic synthesizer, the 
SCI Six Voice Board (6VB). The serial board drives the Six-Track syn- 
thesizer, a unit designed to be integrated into systems containing a drum 
box, sequencers, and a computer. The board allows individual program- 
ming for each voice and has computer-corrected analog electronics. 
Each voice can represent a different timbre, with independent control 
over the tone, loudness, and character of the sound. Mixing inputs can be 
used to create whole bands, synthesizing instruments such as the trom- 
bone, organ, banjo, drum, bass, and so on. $1,095. 

□ Datasoft (9421 Winnetka Avenue, Chatsworth, CA 91311; 



92 



S OF TALK 



MAY 1984 



818-701-5161) has released an arcade game called O 'Riley's Mine, 
wherein a dynamite-toting Irishman seeks mineral wealth while battling 
underground river monsters on the rickety levels of his claim. $29.95. 

□ Speech Systems for Your Microcomputer, by Gary A. Shade, dis- 
cusses applications of voice input and output for home, industry, school, 
and the handicapped. The book also examines existing systems ranging 
in price from twelve dollars to thousands of dollars. One hundred pages 
of reprints from manufacturer's data sheets and a buyer's guide are in- 
cluded. Published by WGBooks (Elm Street and Route 101, Peterbor- 
ough, NH 03458; 603-924-9471). Spiral-bound. $14.95. 

□ MAP is a database management system that searches free-text and 
structured data files, eliminates manual coding or indexing, and auto- 
matically indexes every item in a file. From Softshell (Box 18522, Balti- 
more, MD 21237; 301-686-1213), the program allows the formation of 
free-text databases for schedules, journal abstracts, and catalogs as well 
as references, research notes, and credit reports. Requires Z-80 card. 
$145. 

□ A set of four Basic programs that make scientific graphs on any 80- 
or 132-column printer is contained in PlotPro Version 2.0, from BV En- 
gineering (Box 3351, Riverside, CA 92519; 714-781-0252). Linear, 
semilogarithmic, and full-logarithmic plots with one or two Y axes and 
multiple functions on the same graph can be printed. Templates are pro- 
duced and information is filled in for each graph type. Menu-driven. 
$49.95. SPP is a general-purpose signal -processing program containing 
an integrated set of routines that analyze linear and nonlinear systems 
and circuits, as well as their effects on user-specified time domain wave- 
forms. Results may be plotted with PlotPro. $59.95. ACNAP Version 
1.34 is a general-purpose electronic circuit analysis program that 
analyzes passive and active circuits consisting of resistors, capacitors, 
inductors, controlled current sources, operational amplifiers, transistors, 
and so on. Works with PlotPro to plot gain/phase information. $49.95. 

□ TimberTech Computer Camp has found a new home at the University 
of California at Santa Cruz. For boys and girls ages ten to seventeen, the 
computer education specialty camp emphasizes computer skills develop- 
ment in combination with traditional camp activities. Contact Scott 
Walker at TimberTech (Box 546, Larkspur, CA 94939; 415^61-3787) 
for information on camp sessions this summer. 

□ Designed for high-tech bargain hunters, Computer Shopper (407 
South Washington, Box F, Titusville, FL 32781; 305-269-321 1) is a new 
monthly tabloid aimed at the professional computer user. The publica- 
tion features articles, hardware and software reviews, industry news, 
and a preponderance of classified ads with "flea market-like bargains" 
on a wide range of computer- related items. Robotics, data communica- 
tions, and modem reviews are samples of recent feature material. One 
year (12 issues), $15. 

□ Samson and Delilah is an arcade game from Davka (845 North Mich- 
igan Avenue, Chicago, IL 6061 1 ; 312-944-4070). Race through the tem- 
ple of the Philistines, jump over guards, mind the lion, and shake those 
pillars. Watch out for Delilah's fiery scissors. $24.95. A personalized 
study course on preparing for a bar or bat mitzvah, the Bar Mitzvah 
Compu-Tutor plays the haphtarah melodies. A bouncing ball helps stu- 
dents follow every syllable— using either the Hebrew text, with vowels 
and trope, or the English translation. Customized with the name of each 
student. Designed for Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Recon- 
structionist Jews. $49.95. 

□ Who's Who is now on-line. Derived from seventy-five thousand bio- 
graphical profiles in Who's Who in America, published since 1899, the 
Who's Who database profiles family background, education, career his- 
tory, creative works, and so on. Demographic inquiries, socioeconomic 
questions, and other inquiries can be made. Created by Marquis Who's 
Who (200 East Ohio Street, Chicago, IL 60611; 312-787-2008). 
Available for searching on Dialog as file 234. 

□ Artsci (5547 Satsuma Avenue, North Hollywood, CA 91601; 
818-985-2922) has released an integrated software package called the 
Magic Office System. Magic Window II for word processing, Magicalc 
for spreadsheets, and Magic Words for checking spelling are integrated 
through a file folder and file cabinet display. Documents or parts of 
documents can be cut and pasted into other documents. Requires eighty 
columns and two disk drives. $295. 

□ Attorneys, medical specialists, general practitioners, dentists, and 
pharmacists can learn how to improve their microcomputer business 
skills with Data Management for Professionals, by Bryan Lewis. The 



book, published by Ashton-Tate Publications Group (10150 West Jef- 
ferson Boulevard, Culver City, CA 90230; 213-204-5570), contains in- 
formation on client list management, accounting functions, cash flow, 
record-keeping security, client contact, and what to look for in hardware 
and software. $15.95. 

□ Two new arcade-style entertainments have been released by Adven- 
ture International (Box 3435, Longwood, FL 32750; 305-862-6917). 
In C'est La Vie, the streets are lined with money for players to pick up 
while evading thieves and the dutiful IRS. A loan from a neighboring 
loan shark may help, but players must be sure to pay it off in time. 
$34.95. Gnome Valley has players racing through a mysterious cave try- 
ing to defuse a hydrogen bomb. Alas, the resident gnomes are pronuke. 
$34.95. 

□ Interpret accumulated data and forecast the outcome of similar or 
modified undertakings with Monte Carlo Simulations, from Actuarial 
Micro Software (3915-A Valley Court, Winston-Salem, NC 27106; 
919-765-5588). The statistical analysis part of the program employs the 
chi-square goodness-of-fit test to match a set of raw data to a standard 
probability distribution. The simulation process generates random num- 
bers based on an assumed probability distribution using the Monte Carlo 
method. Menu-driven and nontechnical to use. Includes hi-res graphics, 
sound, and color. $60. With source code, $90. 

□ The Basics of Basic is a four-disk tutorial for the beginning program- 
mer from Focus Media (839 Stewart Avenue, Garden City, NY 11530; 
5 16-794-8900). An introduction to the keyboard and the fundamentals of 
the language are presented in twelve lessons. Documentation included. 
$99. 

□ Three educational games, two help programs, and two explorations 
of the mathematical questions that arise in the games are contained in 
Arith-Magic II Area Games, from Quality Educational Designs (Box 
12486, Portland, OR 97212; 503-287-8137). Designed for children in 
grades four and up, the games develop and use concepts of area and pa- 
rameter, with explorations leading to the graph of the hyperbola and the 
parabola, provoking questions about measurement. $35. 

□ A twelve-page catalog of health-related software is available from 
CTRL Health Software (18653 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 348, Encino, 
CA 91356; 818-788-0888). Categories of software that can be ordered 
by mail include diet and exercise, smoking and alcohol, sex and 
reproduction, psychology, stress and memory, and more. Catalog is up- 
dated regularly and includes many hard-to-find programs. Free. 

□ The Early Childhood Readiness Skills Series is a series of multidisk 
packages covering the areas of classification, ordering/sequence, spatial 
relations, counting skills, and language arts. From Aquarius (Box 128, 
Indian Rocks Beach, FL 33535; 813-595-7890), the series is recom- 
mended for use with early childhood and remediation programs, and for 
use by learning-disabled, hearing-impaired, and physically disabled chil- 
dren. $29.95 per disk. Series price: $102. Catalog is free. 

□ Spell-It! is a spelling instruction and testing system from MultiMedia 
Software (Box 5909, Bethesda, MD 20814; 301-951-3646). Equipped 
with a cassette interface for hearing the correct pronunciation of a word, 
the program allows teachers to create their own spelling lessons with ac- 
companying tapes. Tests can also be created with the package and, after 
administrating the tests, results can be summarized using the report pro- 
gram. Package comes complete with microphone and earphones, sample 
lesson cassette, and audio enhancer unit. $179. Storyboard II is a course- 
ware design package that applies pad and pencil storyboarding tech- 
niques to the planning, testing, and authoring of interactive instruction 
for education and training. All elements can be controlled simultaneous- 
ly, from text and branching to videodisc/tape frame numbers. $185. Ver- 
sions that support popular videotape and videodisk systems: $325. 

□ New from Dynacomp (1427 Monroe Avenue, Rochester, NY 14618; 
716-442-8960): Genesis, The Adventure Creator, an authoring tool for 
the creation of your own text adventures without learning to program. A 
moderate game of about thirty-five locations can be created in a few 
hours. Originally published by Hexcraft. $39.95. Talking Typewriter 
combines graphics and sound to teach the alphabet, numbers, and the 
keyboard to young children ages three to eight. Players must press the 
correct key to launch a missile toward a moving target. No hardware 
needed. $19.95. With graphics that simulate a playing table, Domino is a 
computer version of the ancient game, pitting you against the computer 
on three levels of play, from novice to expert. Twenty-eight-page man- 
ual describing the game and strategies is included. $29.95. Operations 




Amazing SuperSprite now has software galore! 



Eight exciting new software programs for 
SuperSprite! Colorful and animated graphics. 
Dramatic sound effects. Actual speech. The 
peripheral card that revolutionized Apple 9 graphics 
now has software for learning, for playing, for 
fun with programming. 



"One of this year's most impor- 
tant products for the Apple" 
Creative Computing 
February, 1984 

"This peripheral has completely 
changed the Apple ... to an in- 
credible machine with unlimited 
graphics (and sound) potential!' 
In Cider 

September, 1983 





LOGOSprite. Sprites and sound 
join Terrapin LOGO for more learning 
fun. 



NumberSprites. Colorful 
sprites and speech teach 
numbers and quantities. 



AlphaSprites. Children learn the 
alphabet with the aid of sprite ani- 
mation and speech. 



KOBOR. A fast-action maze game 
against deadly androids with 
dramatic sound effects and speech 




Assembly Line Madness. A race 
against a fast moving car assembly 
line to get the proper parts in place 




Synetix Inc. 

10635 N.E. 38th Place 
Kirkland, WA 98033 



SpriteArt. Paintbrushes and a 
palette of colors to create sprites and 
scenery and animate the whole 
picture! 



MusicSprites. Lively sprites add to 
the fun for visually creating colorful 
music. 



BaseballSprites. Hear the roar of 
the crowd. The call of the umpire. 
Play baseball inside famous stadiums 
for real life thrills. 



800-426-7412 



In Canada: Exclusively by Chevco 
Computing, Mississauga. Ontario 
(416)821-7600 



Each program S39 95. Software requires 48k Apple II series and SuperSprite 

NumberSprites, AlphaSprites and Assembly Line Madness are registered trademarks of Avante-Garde Creations, Inc. SuperSprite, LOGOSprite, KOBOR, 
SpriteArt, MusicSprites, BaseballSprites are registered trademarks of Synetix. Inc Apple is a registered trademark of Apple Computers, Inc. 



94 i fSOPTALK maT7984 



Research Tutorial is a collection of seventeen menu-driven programs that 
provide data file creation, manipulation, and calculation capabilities in 
support of the analysis of payoff tables, simplex linear programming, 
distribution/transportation methods, and CPM/PERT analysis. Includes 
practice examples, making it useful for beginners as well as profession- 
als. $99.95. Designed for scientists, engineers, students, and 
photographers, Digital Imaging Processing allows a user to digitally ma- 
nipulate images to remove interference, noise, improve contrast, 
sharpen, and generally filter images. Fifteen samples included. $59.95. 

□ The Computer Supermarket is a two-day personal computer show to 
be held at the San Mateo County Fairgrounds June 9 and 10, sponsored 
by Microshows (Box 4323, Foster City, CA 94404; 415-571-8041). A 
variety of hardware and software for business, educational, entertain- 
ment, and home use will be available for purchase on the spot. Hours are 
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. $6. 

□ A complete hardware and software package for generating interactive 
graphics, The Graphics Tool Kit, from Demco Electronics (10516 Gre- 
villea Avenue, Inglewood, CA 90304; 213-677-0801), has a viewing 
window resolution of 640 dots by 384 lines. The main menu-driven pro- 
gram manipulates vector shapes, displays fonts, draws lines, and plots 
points. Other segments include a vector shape table maker and a font 
maker. Charts, sheet music, floor plans, circuit diagrams— anything that 
will fit on an 8 1/2-by-l 1 piece of paper— can be generated. Utility pro- 
grams included. $495. 

□ Hartley Courseware (Box 431, Dimondale, MI 48821; 
517-646-6458) has announced the Medalists series of programs to aid 
elementary and secondary social studies teachers. The six titles are Con- 
tinents, States, Black Americans, Women in History, Presidents, and 
Create (for the creation of custom lessons). Clues or facts at varying 
levels of difficulty are included for each famous person, state, or conti- 
nent. Students buy clues— those who discover the answers by using only 
the most difficult clues are the winners, or medalists. Records are stored 
for the instructor, and students may compete against themselves or 
against the top three students. $39.95 each. 

□ Beginning a software search? A software locator service survey 
available from Associated Technology (Route 2, Box 448, Estill 
Springs, TN 37330; 615-967-9159) identifies more than fifty major lo- 
cating services, citing more than three hundred thousand software pack- 
ages representing more than eight thousand software companies. $8.50. 

□ An electronic weighing platform with an RS-232 output has been 
marketed by International Computing Scale (2301 1 Moulton Parkway, 
Laguna Hills, CA 92653; 714-951-9658). The SM232 scale will give an 
accurate digital output for weight applied anywhere on the surface of the 
platform and exceeds all National Handbook 44 weighing requirements. 
Comes in standard weighing capacities of 20, 50, 100, and 200 pounds 
or their metric equivalents. Other capacities up to 2,000 pounds avail- 
able. In quantity: $495 each. 

□ Microcom (1400- A Providence Highway, Norwood, PA 02062; 
617-762-9310) has announced a 1200-baud error-correcting modem. 
The SX/1200 modem, part of the Era 2 family of communications sys- 
tems, offers communication between dissimilar terminals, minis, main- 
frames, and micros. Will communicate with any product or service sup- 
porting MNP. Features auto dial/auto answer and user-selectable speeds. 
$599. Eight-slot card chassis (for large users): $699. 

□ More than thirty new products, ranging from portable workstations to 
disk storage cabinets, are featured in the new Altech computer furniture 
catalog from Luxor (2245 Delany Road, Box 830, Waukegan, IL 60085; 
312-244-1800). Free. 

□ Glossary Disk for Apple Writer contains separate glossary files of 
print commands for six popular brands of dot-matrix printers. Print code 
can be accessed with a single keystroke. From MinuteWare (Box 2392, 
Columbia, MD 21045; 301-995-1166). Also contains information on 
how to use your printer's foreign characters. $14.95. Minute Manual for 
PFS:File/Report/Graph/Write, by Jeffery Lesho and Jim Pirisino, is a 
book explaining the integrated software system. A quick guide section 
contains more than fifty step-by-step procedures, many not found in the 
PFS manuals. Two business and education tutorials are included. 
$12.95. 

□ Connections, by Kathleen Martin and Donna Bearden, is a Logo- 
based series of booklets designed for use by individuals, small groups, or 
entire classes. Published by Martin-Bearden (1908 Sandy Lane, Irving, 
TX 75060; 214-253-6579), the three booklets— The Rule of 360, Polyspi 



Inspi, and The Turtle Goes to Kindergarten — contain a variety of ac- 
tivities to explore mathematical concepts. Students are challenged to use 
these concepts abstractly as they solve puzzles and problems on the com- 
puter. $7.95 each. Logo-specific disks (please specify version): $4.95. 

□ A dot-matrix printer with a print speed of one hundred characters per 
second across 136 columns (at ten CPI) has been introduced by Epson 
America (3415 Kashiwa Street, Torrance, CA 90505; 213-539-9140). 
Called the RX-100, the printer is designed for spreadsheets, ledgers, and 
other wide documents. The printer also offers a choice of 128 user-se- 
lectable type styles, as well as a choice of international character sets. 
$699. 

□ @*&!!%# Computers is a "newsletter of what's wrong— and goes 
wrong— with computers," published by Expletive Computers (Box 
553, Mount Freedom, NJ 07970; 201-895-7292). Send them your tale of 
woe, complete with all the anxiety-producing details, and the newsletter 
will pay you $25 upon publication, if they find your story interesting, 
heart-rending, or amusing. One-year subscription (ten issues): $6. 

□ A series of utility routines for beginning or intermediate Applesoft 
programmers is available on Disk O' Utilities, from Broadway Soft- 
ware (642 Amsterdam Avenue, Suite 136, New York, NY 10025; 
212-580-7508). Thirteen programs are contained on the disk, including a 
file deleter routine and an automatic line numbering routine. Not copy- 
protected. $12.95. The Diskinvoice System is a software package for 
small businesses that features invoicing and accounts receivable. $55. 

□ Four programmed software modules for the RB5X Intelligent Robot 
have been released by RB Robot (18301 West Tenth Avenue, Suite 310, 
Golden, CO 80401; 303-279-5525). The modules, which allow the robot 
to do specific tasks as soon as the user switches it on, are 2K or 4K 
EPROMS that plug directly into the RB5X. Tides are Pattern Program- 
mer, for creating movement routines; Bumper Music, allowing simple 
tunes to be played; Spin-the-Robot, a game routine; and Intruder Alarm 
and "Daisy, Daisy", for sensing movement. $14.95 to $24.95. 

□ The third edition of the 5. Klein Directory of Computer Graphics 
Suppliers: Hardware, Software, Systems, and Services is available from 
Technology and Business Communications (730 Boston Post Road, 
Box 89, Sudbury, MA 01776; 617-443-4671). This latest edition con- 
tains 224 pages and identifies more than five hundred supply sources 
"essential to the entire computer graphics industry." Basic product in- 
formation and business background on each company are featured and 
cross-indexed. $60. 

□ The home version of Perplexity contains many of the same puzzles 
that earned the school version, Comp-U-Solve , a Learning Periodicals 
award. From Daybreak Software (1951 Grand Avenue, Baldwin, NY 
1 1510; 516-223-4666), Perplexity encourages players to develop and use 
their logic and problem-solving skills, which are considered critical for 
success in math and science. The three puzzles are presented in two 
modes of play, regular and contest. $29.95. 

□ Educational software from Oakleaf Systems (Box 472, Decorah, IA 
52101): Evolution is a simulation that lets students see the effects of mu- 
tation, gene flow, natural selection, and genetic drift. Factors can be 
studied separately or in combination. $29.95. Algal Growth is a simula- 
tion that presents the effects of nitrate-nitrogen, phosphate, turbidity, 
alkalinity, pH, temperature, ammonia, and light on the growth of 
algae-simulated experiments. $29.95. Ecological Analysis Programs 
enables students to do life table analyses, community similarity, diver- 
sity indexes, capture-recapture population estimation, and more. Equa- 
tions and symbols follow college ecology text models. $29.95. Aquatic 
Ecology Programs assist students with the Hynes/Hamilton estimates of 
secondary production, calculation of stream flow and hydraulic radius, 
lake morphometry, and more. $29.95. 

□ A new version of DMP Utilities is available from Vilberg Brothers 
Computing (Box 72, Mount Horeb, WI 53572; 608-274-6433). Version 
4.3 extends support to the Apple Super Serial Interface, the Imagewriter 
printer, and the Microtek 611 parallel interface. In addition, the program 
now remembers fonts in setup and downloads a font without printing the 
setup message. Update free with returned disk. Without: $4. 

□ The legal questions software publishers face when buying, develop- 
ing, or selling software are addressed in Legal Care for Your Software, by 
attorney Daniel Remer, published by Nolo Press (950 Parker Street, 
Berkeley, CA 94710; 415-549-1976). Issues dealt with include con- 
tracts, ROM copyrights, lawsuits, copywriting manuals, and protecting 
trade secrets. $24.95. 



The High Gods are searching for a replace- 
ment for Randamn, the powerful Demi-god of 
random events. 

Accept the challenge and you enter a uni- 
verse of randomness. There are 7 totally differ- 
ent worlds in Hi-res Graphictron animation, 
including the eerie Graveyard, ancient Stone- 
henge, and the piratical Undersea land. In each, 
it will take all your wits and skill to fight and 
think your way through 7 stages of ever- 
increasing difficulty. In each, 7 different kinds 
of opponents stand guard. But which ones 
you face depends on .... 

the spin of the 

Mystic 
Sot Machine! 

At all first-stages 
you fight a single 
randomly chosen 





enemy. Survive, and the Mystic Slot Machine 
spins again, to turn up other randomly selected 
opponents .. until at each world's 7th stage you 
meet 7 at once. Which ones? The ghost? The 
cobra? The death birds? The devil's lightning? 
Ahhhh, since they carry the curse of Random- 
ness they may all be different— all the same— 
or a terrifying mixture. 



A 

But win through, and 
your reward is great. You 
become a new Demi-god 
of the universe. Dare you chance it? Can 
you stand the agonizing suspense of the 
Mystic Slot Machine? Then welcome to 
Randamn .... where only you stay the same- 
all else is random! 

$34.95 

Apple ll/II+/lle* 

Joystick**/Paddles/Keyboard. 

"recommended 



Order from your dealer or: 




211 15 Devonshire St, Suite 337, 
Chatsworth, Ca 91311. 
(213) 700-0510 

(VISA/MASTERCARD/CHECK Ok. Add $1.00 shipping/handling.) 
'Apple ll/ll+/lle are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. 



96 



mmr 



MAY 1984 



YOUR 



for //c 



' : III,'"/'''''/ 

i ui m - 



POWER 





Word processing at 

its finest. PoWerful and ver 
satile. yet easy to use and 
natural Designed for the 
business and professional 
environment (or for anyone who wants the best) 
Simple control commands Typewriter-style shift 
and lock Glossary Form letters and mailing lists 
Menus for disk access and printing DOS 3.3 com 
patible text files 40 or 80 column display 
Modifiable drivers for most interface cards and 
printers $210. 

Communications 

add-on for ZARDAX 
Turns ZARDAX into a 
communicating word pro- 
cessor, to send and 
receive text files. Talk to other Apples, mainframes, 
information services, typesetters. Includes termina 1 
mode. 300 or 1,200 baud. Works with serial, 
modem, and popular 80 column cards used by 
ZARDAX. Log-on files and X-on X-off supported 





"Apple Interactive Data 
Analysis." Statistical 
analysis package for 
production research work 
with large survey data 
files. Full range of analysis — from descriptive 
statistics to multiple regression. Complete data 
manipulation, transformation and case selection. 
Fast and accurate calculations. Up to 4,000 cases 
and 255 variables per file. $235. 



Just push our button . . . 

Action- Research Northwest 

1 1442 Marine View Drive, SW. 

Seattle, WA 98146 

(206) 241- 1645 Source: CL2542 



Apple ][ is a trademark of Apple Computer. Inc 

ZARDAX is a trademark of Computer Solutions. Pty Australia 

Dealer inquiries invited. 




□ A job-cost accounting system for manufacturers that includes general 
ledger, job cost subsidiaries, payables journal, and payroll has been re- 
leased by CMA Micro Computer (55722 Santa Fe Trail, Yucca Valley, 
CA 92284; 619-365-9718). The Ledger includes five hundred accounts, 
and the system prepares a posting journal of all detail, a trial balance, an 
income statement, a balance sheet, and more. Payroll includes tables for 
federal, state, and local taxes. Requires two disk drives and 130-column 
printer. $459.95. 

□ Three "no-frills" carrying cases for shipping and carrying software 
are available from PRC of America (475 Boulevard, Elmwood Park, NJ 
07407; 201-796-6600). The Data Vault series of cases are constructed 
from thick- walled polyethylene foam with a rugged, luggage-type handle 
and industrial-style hardware. Each case comes with a hinged lock that 
accommodates a standard padlock. Three sizes. $62 each. 

□ A thirty-two-page catalog of computer science books and software is 
available from Little, Brown and Company's College Division (34 
Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02106; 617-227-0730). More than fifty 
books are featured, with titles ranging from handbooks on system analy- 
sis to language-specific programming references. Several selections are 
designed for those with little or no technical expertise. Free. 

□ For psychologists, counselors, and others who are familiar with the 
Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised, Bertamax (3647 
Stoneway North, Seattle, WA 98103; 206-547-4056) has introduced 
WISC-R Report Writer, developed to help diagnose strengths and weak- 
nesses related to academic subjects and to prepare reports of the results 
for clients. The program includes a test profile to illustrate the subtest 
scaled scores to help in the selection of appropriate recommendations. A 
listing of fifty recommendations in five general areas is available. $125. 

□ GoGames is an electronic go board and game-filing program for the 
Japanese game of go. From Go Software (Box 2693, Chicago, IL 
60690), the program displays games at chosen speeds, using commen- 
tary and other features to enhance the assimilation of information. 
Graphics simulate the simplicity of placing black-and-white stones on a 
board. Tournament games can be saved. $39.95. 

□ A handicapped-operable replacement keyboard for the Apple II has 
been created by Key Tronic (Box 14687, Spokane, WA 99214; 
509-928-8000). Individuals not having the use of both hands can now op- 
erate the Apple keyboard by the use of alternate-action keys that over- 
come the obstacle of having to depress several keys at once, as required 
in most applications. Plug-compatible, with a low-profile design. $298. 

□ Psychological Psoftware (4757 Sun Valley Road, Del Mar, CA 
92014; 619-481-4182) has announced Ne ver Fat Again, a behavior modi- 
fication program for weight loss. The program teaches a user to change 
eating habits for safe weight loss, with emphasis on how food is eaten, 
not what kind of food. $49.95. 

□ Write dBase II code with a new utility program from Gryphon Mi- 
croproducts (Box 6543, Silver Spring, MD 20906; 301-946-2585). 
dHelper Part I gives a formatted output listing of a system of dBase II 
programs and data files. The software allows a user to set listing 
parameters and do macro substitution, as well as check syntax. $150. 

□ The Uniprint printer card provides transfers of hi-res graphics pages 
one and two, expands and shrinks the images, or rotates the images in 
any direction by ninety degrees. From Videx (1105 Northeast Circle 
Boulevard, Corvallis, OR 97330; 503-758-0521), the board also makes 
color transfers on the Dataproducts IDS Prism printer. Installation man- 
ual included with details on more than twenty-five printers. With cable: 
$89. 

□ Monkeynews is the second program, following Monkeymath, in the 
Monkey Series of educational software from Artwork Software (150 
North Main Street, Fairport, NY 14450; 800-828-6573). The program is 
designed to help increase reading and comprehension skills, using a par- 
ticipation format that allows students control of story direction and 
speed, as well as the action of the main character, Marc the Monkey. A 
branching program allows the creation of more than two dozen varia- 
tions on the original story. For grades one through six. $29.95. 
Monkeybuilder is the third package in the series. This time Marc the 
Monkey is out to net pieces of words that, when correctly combined, 
form the building blocks for his home in the high trees. Each level incor- 
porates dozens of different vocabulary, word structure, and spelling 
devices that increase in difficulty. Also for grades one through six. 
$29.95. " Hi 



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Another only-from-PKASO/U feature. 

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your dealer for a demonstration. 



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Era one. 




Era two 



le personal com- 
uter increase the 
roductivity of the 
usiness executive 
ramatically. Yet for all their 
Dwer, personal computers 
ave not fulfilled their poten 
il. Because the different 
akes have been unable to 
)mmunicate reliably with one 
lother and with the various public 
ita networks. 

But now, Microcom moves the 
srsonal computer into a new era of communi- 
itions compatibility with Era 2-the first Personal 
omputer Communications System with the 
dustry-standard communications protocol 
INP. Era 2 finally enables dissimilar personal 
)mputers to communicate with one another 
liably and cost effectively. It also allows the 
Brsonal computer to access public data 
itworks easily and error-free, 
closer look at Era 2. 

Era 2 with MNP is a 1200 baud Communi- 
itions System (software and inboard modem) 
isigned to operate with the Apple I le, Apple I i Plus 
id Apple II. Its features include IBM 3101, Digital 
P100 and VT-52 terminal emulations. Era 2 exe- 
Jtes multiple functions with a single keystroke, 
ores a virtually unlimited number of telephone 
jmbers - each one up to 31 digits. Era 2 is Bell 
2A compatible, works with Pulse or Touch- 
ne™ dialing. Its speaker alerts you to busy 
gnals, wrong numbers, etc. Era 2 gives your 
srsonal computer error-free compatibility 
ith other personal computers, data bases, 
ainframes, almost any information source 
latcan be reached by telephone line. 




Era2's electronics 
are so well put 
together 
we're able 
to offer 
a four-year warranty - 
twice the term of pro- 
tection you get from 
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On top of that our product support 
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We're able to offer Era 2 for an amazing 
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Era 2 is outstanding. 

Move your personal computer forward 
into a new era of communications. Visit your 
Era 2 dealer soon. Call 800-322-ERA2 (in MA, 
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Or write us, Microcom, Inc., 1400A Providence 
Highway, Norwood, MA 02062. We'll send you 
a brochure with complete information on Era 2. 
Only from Microcom: The Personal Computer 
Communications System with MNP. 




100 



WHTAI I 



MAY 1984 






Apples Al 




^ TODD ZILBE&T 

It is hot in Tunis, on the Mediterranean coast of Africa. One 
of the oldest civilized regions in the world, Tunis is just a stone's 
throw from the ancient city of Carthage. The Phoenicians settled 
in Tunis. Carthaginian war fleets sailed from there. The alphabet 
originated there. 

Tunis is the capital of the Republic of Tunisia. The republic, a 
nation of seven million people, was born in 1957 after centuries 
of French and Turkish rule— a young nation in the cradle of civili- 
zation. The climate of Tunisia nourishes olives, dates, lemons 
and limes, and all-important wheat; it is too hot for apples. But, 
six thousand miles from Cupertino, California, Apples are grow- 
ing in Tunisia. 

And Apples are proliferating all over the world. This month, 
Softalk visits some countries with many Apples and some with 
only a few— but each has a fresh, new flavor. Together they form 
a collage of Apples and Apple users. 

In developing nations, where having enough to eat is a strug- 
gle, Apples are helping governments organize their resources and 
plan for the future. Special assignments editor Andrew Christie 
reports on how Apples are helping Tunisia manage the production 
and distribution of cereal grains. Also, this month's Newspeak 
column describes how a French organization is working in the 
heart of Africa, helping Chad— a poor, war-torn nation five hun- 
dred miles south of Tunisia — use computer technology. 

Europe lies just north of Tunisia, across the Mediterranean 



Sea. Apples are almost as familiar there as they are in the United 
States. Apple has a plant in Cork, Ireland, to supply the European 
market, and there are sixty thousand Apples in Germany alone, 
where the little beige machine is known as the Mercedes of per- 
sonal computers. German businesspeople have received them en- 
thusiastically, while the German home market remains less than 
ideal. Apple sales representative Terry Adams reports that less 
than 5 percent of the Apples in Europe are in the homes. 

Correspondent Eden Recor writes from Germany, 
"Americans can be characterized as people who will first buy a 
computer, then ask, 'Okay, what can it do for me?' and go on to 
find all sorts of uses for it. That attitude doesn't exist in Ger- 
many." Higher computer prices coupled with less disposable in- 
come make impulsive buying of computers rare. And perhaps 
there is a national temperament that explains the different con- 
sumer patterns, including an opinion that computer games should 
be free! 

In his Exec on Paris-based Apple Computer International, 
senior editor David Hunter looks at Apple's overall strategy for 
marketing machines in the twenty-three countries that Apple con- 
siders its European market. The He, HI, and Lisa have been well 
received, and the Macintosh is on the launching pad. Also, in 
"Personal Computing in the Old World," Hunter addresses the 
attitudes and reactions of Europeans to the personal computing 
phenomenon. There may be fewer users in Europe than in the 
States, but the excitement is strong and getting stronger. 



MAY 1984 



sunn 



101 





Over the World 




The worldwide spread of computers shouldn't be thought of 
as merely the exportation of American goods to foreign markets. 
Software development is an international concern. For example, 
the word processor Zardax is an import from Australia. German 
bakers use specially designed German bakery software, and 
French developers are working on hardware and software that 
may, in some cases, be superior to what is available in the United 
States. From Canada, correspondent Don Officer reports that 
three Canadians and American Seymour Papert developed such 
an impressive version of Logo that it earned the Apple brand. 

Other Canadians are using Apples to manage farm produc- 
tion, from hogs to wheat. Apples have "pioneered dozens of ap- 
plications" on farms, according to Ontario cattle rancher Betty 
Vandenbosch. "The Apple is a thousand dollars cheaper than any 
other system with suitable software. ' ' Sheep and dairy farmers an 
ocean away in New Zealand are also using Apples, according to 
correspondent John MacGibbon. Shrinking markets and prices 
there have forced New Zealand farmers, "already reckoned 
among the world's most efficient," to turn to computers for ways 
to improve efficiency. 

Meanwhile, kids and computers around the world are becom- 
ing inseparable. Summer computer camps are available to Aus- 
tralian children, who also receive computer instruction at school. 
And MacGibbon reports that an amazing 95 percent of the high 
schools in New Zealand have at least one Apple. Canada and Ger- 
many are also committed to bringing computers to their children. 



In Germany, some knowledge of Pascal is already required of 
high school students. German computer dealer Andreas Stoerzer 
says that a desire for greater programming capability has led Ger- 
man educational advisers to recommend that schools invest in 
Apples over Commodores, which previously had the nod. 

Computer users in other countries face problems unknown to 
American users. For instance, in New Zealand the per capita in- 
come is twenty-five hundred dollars a year less than in America. 
On top of this, hardware and software can cost as much as three 
times more. Simple economics makes it harder for even seriously 
interested consumers to investigate computers down under. 

Language differences are an obvious but sometimes over- 
looked impediment to computers in other countries. In Canada, 
two languages are spoken; programs must accommodate both 
English and French. Different languages require different charac- 
ter sets. Non-English-speaking users require software written or 
revised in their native tongue, and hardware must be made to con- 
form to language variations as well. 

Maybe in the future an icon-based interface like Apple has in- 
troduced worldwide on the Macintosh will facilitate intercultural 
computer development, much like international road signs help 
world travelers now. 

It may be idealistic to think that the spread of computers will 
engender a greater unity among nations. But New Zealand isn't 
so far from Canada— and the distance from Cupertino to Tunis is 
getting shorter all the time. Hi 




Do Disks Spin 
Backward in the 
Southern Hemisphere? 

er loun haccibboh 

"The whole world's going to be taken over by computers and 
all that sort of thing," the eager youngster insists. Ten-year-old 
Nina Siers quits steering her turtle and leaves the Logo screen 
long enough to explain her presence at summer computer camp. 
"No one in our family knows anything about computers. I'm 
here to check them out and report back." 

Further, young Nina insists that when computers take over the 
world, everything will become dark — "just like in Blade Run- 
ner." But that pessimistic vision is complicated by the fact that 
here she is, having fun. 

Barely pausing for breath, Nina pours out her enthusiasm 
about programming with Logo, playing Animals, Rats, Apple 
Check, Insulter, Pac-Man, and Lemonade, as well as tennis, hik- 
ing, swimming, doing gymnastics, eating. . . . 

None of it is dark, and everything is "just great." 

Downloading with the Joneses. Yes, computers are alive, 
well, and bursting into everyone's consciousness down under in 
Australasia. Though both countries covered by that term have 
small populations (Australia fifteen million, New Zealand three 
million), the locals are well educated, relatively affluent, and 
have a long-time passion for keeping up with the Northern 
Hemisphere. 

Especially in computers. Both countries see silicon 
technology as a great chance to break the tyranny of distance 
separating them from the rest of the world. It's a chance to 
become full-fledged residents of the new global village, and 
they're grabbing it. 

Just as it brings Australians and New Zealanders closer to the 
world in terms of communications, so the micro revolution offers 
possibilities for new exports that will be less affected by heavy 
freight costs than traditional minerals and farm products are. 

Higher Tech. Kiwis and Aussies are probably as interested 



and involved with computers as Americans, but there are dif- 
ferences, partly resulting from the extra cost of computer 
equipment. 

An Apple He starter package including a 64K basic unit, Ap- 
ple drive/controller, and Apple monitor that costs about $1 ,650 in 
the U.S. retails (in local currency) for $2,695 in Australia and a 
whopping $3,995 in New Zealand. Blame those figures on ex- 
change rates, limited competition, and extortionate government 
rake-offs. New Zealand, which fares the worst, gets only sixty- 
five U.S. cents for one of its dollars and suffers a 40 percent com- 
puter sales tax as well. 

These costs, in combination with lower average wages, make 
owning a microcomputer an expensive business. Whereas an 
American citizen works five weeks, on the average, to buy an 
Apple starter package, an Australian must work nine. New 
Zealanders must labor nearly fifteen weeks to join the Apple clan. 

Yet people still buy. New Zealanders in particular are less 
concerned with trappings of affluence than Americans are and 
have different priorities for their incomes. They'll happily do 
without glittering office suites, en suite bathrooms, big cars, and 
designer wardrobes if doing so means they can buy some shiny 
new high-tech gear. 

These are boom times for micros. Nineteen eighty-three was a 
very good year in Australia, though more for IBM than for Ap- 
ple. In the second half of the year, Apple's share of new micro 
sales slumped from 27 percent to 12 percent; the IBM PC, in- 
troduced in February, was chiefly responsible. According to 
dealers, Apples were perceived as too expensive for the features 
they offered in comparison with the Commodore 64 and cheap 
Apple compatibles in the high-end home market and the IBM PC 
in the business market. In Australia, much hangs on the accep- 
tance of Macintosh and the revamped Lisa line. 

Boomier Boom. Apple's year was rather better in New 
Zealand. The He remained the top-selling micro, gaining 26 per- 
cent of new business. But IBM's PC was gaining fast, moving 
from 0 to 20 percent of 1983 sales. 

A major survey of the New Zealand computer market pub- 
lished last December foretold a huge micro boom in 1984: It was 
predicted that the value of the entire installed micro base would 
rise by a whopping 86 percent. The survey suggested that 
business and professional markets would see the largest growth, 
followed by the home and education markets, in that order. About 
half of all purchases would be made by first-time computer users. 

By the end of 1983, there were an estimated thirty thousand 
Apple Us in Australia. New Zealand, with about seven thousand 
machines, had far fewer, though more on a per capita basis. 

Good numbers of Apples are in Australian homes, but in New 
Zealand home sales are less than 1 percent of the Apple market. 
An Apple is too costly for the average Kiwi, who, if he has one, 
probably has a commercial excuse for it. (Sometimes rather flim- 
sy, of course!) 

Australia has particularly strong user groups. Largest is the 
Sydney Apple User Group, with more than five hundred 
members. The Sydney group has published more than forty 
double-sided program disks, puts out a monthly magazine, and 
has installed its own electronic bulletin board, through which it 
sells cheap club-designed modems and communications software. 

New Zealand's relatively high per capita Apple ownership 
reflects an extraordinarily high number of computers in education 
and a strong business base. Apple's New Zealand distributors 
don't consider the Apple a home computer, while Apple Australia 



MAY 1984 



S O C T A I If 



103 



must be very worried about losing its home market to cheaper 
brands. Home users and hobbyists in both countries are buying 
vast quantities of micros costing less than $1,000, such as the 
Commodore 64 and VIC, Sinclair Spectrum and ZX81, and a 
plethora of Japanese models. 

It is a tragedy that, while the level of home interest is probably 
nearly as high down under as it is in the United States, entry-level 
computers tend to be underpowered machines with cassette 
storage that are capable of playing games, and teaching Basic, but 
little else in the way of practical applications. 

From Apple to Zapple. In 1982, Apple's New Zealand 
agent, CED Distributors, scored a marketing coup by offering 
one computer to every high school in the country— at half price. 
Schools took the bait. Even after antidumping levies were added 
to the price, Apple ended up with a micro in nine out of every ten 
high schools. Sales have since increased, and about 95 percent of 
all high schools have at least one Apple. Some 80 percent of all 
computers in New Zealand schools are Apples. 

Most schools have computer clubs, popular with the many 
students who don't have a computer at home but who are still able 
to converse in machine language as if it were their mother tongue. 
Surprisingly high numbers of New Zealand schools have large 
Apple networks, something that's rarely found in Australia, 
where few schools have more than five machines. 

This year, CED Distributors is consolidating its support for 
education by introducing the "New Zealand Beginning," a small 
Source-styled database and bulletin board aimed particularly at 
the education market. 

Wellington High, a school with about one thousand students, 
is on the wrong side of the tracks in New Zealand's capital city. 
Once the school had difficulty attracting students and maintaining 
student numbers. Now that has changed, largely because Wel- 
lington offers the most successful computer courses in town— on 
Apples, of course. 

Currently the school runs seventeen He's with disk drives and 
printers, linked in a Nestar network to forty megabytes of hard 
disk storage. The network can take a maximum of sixty-four Ap- 
ples, a goal that may well be achieved before too long, if com- 
puter director Martin Leda has his way. 

The school got its first Apples in 1980 as donations from the 
Parent-Teacher Association. Students themselves subsequently 
won two more computers in programming competitions. But 
most of the network has been bought out of profits from evening 
computing classes for adults. There's been extraordinary interest 
in the adult computer program, which this year has more than 
thirty classes of about twenty-four people each. Leda expects that 
more classes will be added as the year progresses. Wellington 
High also earns money hiring out its equipment to computer 
camps during school holidays. 

Like most New Zealand schools, Wellington High stresses 
Logo, especially for younger students. This approach has been 
encouraged by Apple's distributors, who include Logo in their 
package for schools. A similar Apple policy has led to 
widespread use of Pascal. As a result, it's claimed, there's more 
intensive high school use of these languages in New Zealand than 
there is in any other country. 

At Wellington High, Logo is used in computer awareness 
classes by third- and fourth-form (eighth- and ninth-grade) 
students, who also learn a little Basic. Older students move to 
UCSD Pascal. 

After eighteen months of teaching Logo, Martin Leda is an 




Rocky cliffs off the coast of Sydney, Australia. Then called Port Jackson, 
the city was founded as a British penal colony in 1 788. 

enthusiast. "I'm beginning to see what Seymour Papert was talk- 
ing about when he said students should be programming the com- 
puters not because they want to learn to be commercial program- 
mers but to train their own thinking," Leda says. 

His experience is that it's hard to teach Basic as a first 
language. He finds that students who excel are those who are 
already mathematically bright and "would learn anything you put 
in front of them. 

"Any student who has trouble with math will find computer 
programming difficult if he's taught Basic," he explains. "We're 
trying to develop the attitude here that programming and using a 
computer isn't difficult— it's for everybody." 

Aside from work with computer languages, the school en- 
courages students to look on the computer as a tool— with Apple 
Writer He, VisiCalc, accounting packages, and databases— for in- 
vestigating ideas in mathematics, physics, graphics, social 
studies, and physical education. 

Other than the languages and business packages, most soft- 
ware in the schools is from New Zealand sources. Apart from 
some public domain material, little American education software 
is used. 

Aussie Net. At present, few large networks exist in Australian 
schools, although this may change with the introduction of cheap 
networking systems. The largest single installation at present is at 
the New South Wales Institute of Technology's accountancy 
school, where twenty computers are networked through Omninet 
to a Corvus ten-megabyte storage system. The school uses its 
own software, plus standard commercial accounting and spread- 
sheet packages. 

One of the institute's lecturers, Steve Trevillion, presented a 
paper on the system to the 1982 Business Schools' Conference in 
San Francisco. He was surprised to find that the Australian 



104 



WUTAI I 



MAY 1984 




Kangaroos run free on protected land down under. Born small enough to 
fit several into a teaspoon, baby kangaroos crawl into their mother's 
pouches unaided. 



system was ahead of the pack. "Our uses of the Apple personal 
computer proved far more advanced than methods used in other 
countries," Trevillion said. "Universities in Europe, England, 
and the U.S. will probably follow Australia in its use of 
microcomputers . ' ' 

Overall, Apple hasn't done as well in Australian schools as it 
has in New Zealand's educational settings, although it is still the 
biggest single micro supplier, with seventy-five hundred units in- 
stalled. Late last year an Australian Schools Commission report 
recommended the microcomputers from Apple, BBC, and 
Microbee for general school use. At around the same time the 
Commonwealth Government established a school computer ad- 
visory board and promised to spend $18 million on school com- 
puting over the next three years. Emphasis was to be placed at the 
junior secondary school level. (This contrasts with the New 
Zealand Minister of Education's priorities, which are, in order, 
college, secondary, and elementary schools.) 

Neither country has come to appreciate the value of computers 
in elementary education. 

Tasmania, an Australian state, known because of its fruit 
crops as the Apple Isle, has (appropriately enough) the highest 
proportion of Apples in Australian schools. It has also been most 
innovative in their use. Tasmanian education programs are used 
throughout Australia and even in New Zealand. 

Most respected of the Tasmanian programs is Convicts, a 
database with details of reluctant settlers who arrived with the 
First Fleet of 1788. Australians are fascinated by their convict 
past, and this makes students eager to delve into the program and 
learn about information technologies. 

Perhaps the most impressive single Australian education 
package is Direct Helper, a reading and spelling program de- 
signed especially for slow readers. 

Australia's first computer program to help improve hand- 



writing is in the final stages of testing by the Australian National 
University in the capital city, Canberra. Designed over a period 
of eight years, the program makes use of Apple lis, graphics 
tablets, and Intex Talkers. Results in local schools have been en- 
couraging, and commercial release is intended. 

Australian education authorities have also produced in- 
teresting computer-aided instruction programs based on arcade 
action games, while excellent spelling and foreign language 
tutors have been created by a Sydney software house, Lothlorien 
Farming. 

Software Takes a Trashing. But in neither Australia nor 
New Zealand are education observers satisfied with the overall 
range of quality of courseware available for schools. One critic is 
Arthur Sale, a professor of information science at the University 
of Tasmania: "Probably 90 percent of all courseware available 
today is junk," he asserts. Sale argues that there's room for a 
substantial Australian education software industry, given the ex- 
pertise available. While more extreme in his criticisms than most 
educators, Sale does highlight a problem with American soft- 
ware: In spite of twenty years' conditioning by U.S. television 
programs, a broad cultural gap still exists. Many social values 
differ, and both Australia and New Zealand use metric measure- 
ments and British word spellings. 

Teachers in Australia, like teachers everywhere, are finding it 
hard to keep up with the computer revolution— and particularly 
with some of their brighter students who, of course, spend enor- 
mous amounts of time at the keyboard. Seventeen-year-old 
Michael Orphanides actually took over the computer class at his 
Sydney high school. Orphanides doesn't own an Apple yet, but 
he used the school's computer to write a book, Outstanding 
Games for the Apple II, which has been released in the United 
Kingdom. He also has a contract to write programs for Australian 
Personal Computer magazine. 

Camping with Apples. Glyn Hurley started the first residen- 
tial computer camps in New Zealand, but he'd happily snap his 
fingers and make computers disappear. An education 
psychologist, Hurley has reservations about the social conse- 
quences of computerization. But he's pragmatic and aware that 
the machines are here to stay. "Computers are the only way to 
go, so I'm trying to do something about it," he says. 

Hurley likens the dangers of computers to those of television, 
but says computers can have far graver consequences. "People 
said TV would do terrible things to us. It did kill conversation and 
decrease interaction between people, but we've adapted to it," 
Hurley says. "TV has nowhere near the degree of involvement 
that a computer has. TV is interest-arousing, but the ultimate in 
human experience is interactive performance. Computers require 
interactive performance." 

Hurley says computers encourage complete absorption, 
something that makes people quite unaware of the passage of 
time. But it doesn't necessarily make people happy, and it cer- 
tainly doesn't improve communication between people. To 
counteract such insidious tendencies, Glyn Hurley works social 
skills components into his camps by means of sessions of what he 
terms "social training." 

"We have very simple exercises, like the youngsters turning 
to look at each other when they're talking, or passing com- 
pliments," he says. An important part of the sessions is con- 
fidence building, which Hurley considers particularly helpful to 
the many children he sees who are introverted or lack confidence. 
Some of the activities are organized so that children have to co- 



MAY 1984 



s o r T A L k 



105 



operate in pairs. 

Students are encouraged to think of the computer as a tool, not 
as an end unto itself. 

Most activities at his six-day camps are standard fare: 
physical activities, including an outdoor challenge course, gym 
work, tennis, skating, hiking and nature study in the nearby 
mountains, swimming, and, of course, computer time, the favor- 
ite of all. 

The kids have one computer each, either an Apple, a Commo- 
dore VIC, or a BBC Acorn. Apples are used especially with 
rank beginners, because of the availability of Logo. More ad- 
vanced kids work on self-paced lessons in Basic and Pascal. 
Older students can also learn about word processing, flow chart- 
ing, file writing, and database operation. 

Glyn Hurley is particularly interested in databases, believing 
effective use of them to be the ultimate point of computer train- 
ing. Senior students even have the opportunity to contact overseas 
databases, such as The Source. 

Beach Blanket Basic. Competing with Glyn Hurley's setup 
in New Zealand are camps run by a former associate of Hurley's, 
Barry Small. Small's Adventure Holidays organization even ex- 
ports its live-in camps across the Tasman Sea to Eleanora 
Heights, within cooee of Sydney's famous surfing beaches. 

The only other residential computer camp in Australia is at a 
farm near Mount Barney National Park in Queensland. Accom- 
modating eight people at a time, Lynn and Tom McHale's camp 
is aimed particularly at parents who want to unravel the mysteries 
of computing along with their children. 

Other Australian holiday computer courses are nonresi- 
dential— at Sydney's University of New South Wales and Ade- 
laide's Institute of Technology. 

Digging the Good Dirt. New Zealand may be well into the 
computer revolution, but the big money is still made down on the 
farm. Most export income comes from sheep meat, beef, wool, 
dairy products, and horticultural produce, especially apples and 
kiwifruit. 

This small country was developed as Britain's farm in the 
South Pacific, and that was the basis for a standard of living that 
was the fifth highest in the world at one point during the 1950s. 
But times change; terms of trade for primary products declined, 
and traditional markets in Europe have gradually been closed off 
by European Economic Community trading policies. Agricultural 
protectionism in the United States and Japan hasn't helped either. 

With declining markets and declining prices, New Zealand's 
farmers, already reckoned among the world's most efficient, 
have had to look for even greater efficiencies. Many are consider- 
ing microcomputers and agriculture databases. At present four 
local companies sell farm computing systems. Two of these 
systems run on the Apple EI. 

In Christchurch, Rural Computer Systems supplies a hard- 
ware and software service adapted from the English Farmplan 
system, which is also used in European countries, the U.S., 
Australia, and South Africa. The system includes a specialized 
database, a dozen or so financial and farm management templates 
for either VisiCalc or Multiplan, and a variety of other financial 
and farm management programs. 

You can even purchase programs to raise deer, currently a 
fashionable and profitable activity. (The deer yield venison and 
high-priced antler velvet, which is exported to Korea for use in 
aphrodisiacs.) Reliability was the reason another farm software 
house, Agricultural Computer Services, chose Apples. The new 




Rank beginners at a New Zealand computer camp are lucky enough to 
begin on Apples. After a session with Logo, the kids can then go hike, 
swim, or play tennis. 



company, based in Napier in the North Island's Hawke Bay, is a 
joint venture between a farm service company and a microcom- 
puter retailer. It offers cash flow recording systems, stud record- 
ing software, and a number of smaller utility programs. 

Many farms in the region are some distance from service 
facilities in Napier, so the likelihood of breakdowns had to be 
minimized. Company head Dave Smith also likes Apple's power 
supply. 

"It's big, and that's important in country areas where the 
power supply fluctuates," he says. "Some machines crash im- 
mediately if there's a power flip, but the Apple is less likely to do 
that. The power can drop off to the point where the picture disap- 
pears from the screen completely, but it comes back. The same 
goes for the disk drives." 

Cows Coming On-Line. This year heralds the introduction of 
two rural videotex databases. One of these, the Bureau of 
Primary Information, is based on the UK Prestel standard and can 
also be accessed by micros. 

A pilot system for dairy farmers began in March, while what 
is claimed as one of the world's most comprehensive veterinary 
databases comes on-line this month. The scheme was started by 
Cargill McKenzie and Peter Trim, former senior information 
staffers at New Zealand's ministry of agriculture and fisheries. 
Trim is a qualified veterinary surgeon, which may explain the 
early attention to animal health. 



McKenzie admits that micros are ultimately a better way for 
farmers to go, but says the price puts them off. Videotex ter- 
minals cost only $700, and farmers can use them with their televi- 
sion sets. 

"You don't convince a farmer to spend $5,000 on something 
very new or novel very easily," Cargill says. "But if he buys a 
videotex terminal he may later move upward to a micro, because 
he'll be familiarizing himself with computer technology." 

Eighty-Column March. A small but growing Apple pe- 
ripherals industry exists in both Australia and New Zealand. 
The best-known item in the United States is probably Zofarry 
Enterprises's Vision-80 card, which until the advent of Videx's 
Ultraterm was generally regarded as the industry standard. A 
feature of the Vision-80 is its smart terminal emulation com- 
munications mode. 

Zofarry now has a wider range of products, including eighty- 
column preboot disks for Apple Writer II and VisiCalc, 128K and 
256K memory expansion cards, and a variety of utility programs. 

Buzzing Between Machines. Communications is the com- 
puter buzzword everywhere these days. The Australian-designed 
Netcomm card enables communication between Apples and 




Young campers Logoing at the Te Horo, New Zealand, computer camp. 
Another camp across the Tasman Sea at Eleanora Heights offers access to 
surfing beaches. 

nearly all IBM mainframes. Apple Computer was impressed and 
has taken up worldwide marketing rights. 

Pirates on the Software Seas. Software running on Australa- 
sian Apples is largely from America. Most applications aren't 
worth developing locally. The reasons? A small market and the 
prevalence of software piracy. One Auckland micro retailer 
claims that more than 90 percent of software running on local Ap- 
ples is pirated. Microshop, a Wellington retailer, reckons pirate 
copies account for 20 percent of business use, 40 percent of 
games use, and 80 percent of education use. Any Australasian 
hoping to make his pile in the software business had better 
develop markets overseas or have a cast-iron protection system. 
With software costing so much, the two countries possess some 
of the most active and sophisticated Blackbeards south of the 
Bahamas. Some representative prices illustrate their incentive. 

Screenwriter II is priced at about $125 in the U.S., $195 in 
Australia, and $275 in New Zealand. Americans pay about $175 
for Multiplan; in Australia it is $300 and in New Zealand $600. 



MasterType is just under $40 in the United States, $65 in 
Australia, and $95 in New Zealand. Choplifter is about $35 in the 
United States, $48 in Australia, and $85 in New Zealand. And 
remember, Aussies and Kiwis buy these programs with lower 
average wages than U.S. consumers. 

Parents would love to buy Rocky 's Boots for their kids, but 
must ask themselves "Is it worth $115?" That much money 
would buy a lot of educational books. But the New Zealand 
Customs Department rates books (even Playboyl) duty-free 
"cultural" items while slamming computer programs with 27.5 
percent duty and 40 percent sales tax. 

Strange Fruit. Australians are no more honest than New 
Zealanders. In fact, the situation there has worsened since a re- 
cent decision against Apple in an action against a Melbourne 
retailer of Taiwanese Wombat copies. As Apple's case was partly 
based on proprietary programs copied by Wombat, the court 
decision has thrown the software industry into turmoil. 

In January a group calling itself the Public Domain Software 
Library announced that it would sell cheap copied software. The 
Sydney Morning Herald has advertised the Banana personal com- 
puter for $489. This tasty fruit may be garnished with Apple soft- 
ware at "unbelievable prices." Meanwhile, a heavily lobbied 
Australian Government has promised early legislation, retroac- 
tive if necessary, to modernize its copyright laws. 

In spite of this difficult environment, good software is being 
written in both countries, and useful export trade is developing. 
Advantages often cited by local software developers include high 
educational standards, lower wage structures, and inventive, 
lateral-thinking populations. The latter attributes have developed 
as a result of the two countries' relative isolation from the world, 
which has often forced them to produce quick homegrown solu- 
tions to technical problems. 

Particularly attractive is the low cost of sending software to 
the Northern Hemisphere, compared to freighting of bulky tradi- 
tional agricultural and mineral exports. Software houses are now 
actively seeking associations and joint ventures with British, Jap- 
anese, and American companies. The most successful of these to 
date has been in the Burroughs rather than Apple field. 

When Burroughs decided to adopt the Logistics Information 
Network Compiler (LINC) "fourth generation" program 
development package as its software flagship, it could have 
transferred the development team lock, stock, and barrel to 
Detroit. Instead the company let the group remain in 
Christchurch, New Zealand, and the product has since become a 
substantial export earner. 

Communicating with the Burroughs head office is no problem 
with air freight and electronic mail, and LINC inventors Peter 
Hoskins and Gil Simpson think they work better in their own 
country's less hurried environment. In three years Burroughs has 
invested nearly $9 million in LINC development, and Hoskins 
expects an equal sum will come his way in the next three years. 
It's been a good investment: The LINC people won't say how 
much the product has earned, but other sources estimate total in- 
ternational sales in the past two years at around eighty million 
U.S. dollars. 

How nice it would be if, alongside each of their dairy factories 
or wool stores, New Zealand and Australia could have a software 
house earning that kind of money! It is little wonder that phrases 
such as "sunrise industries" and "high-tech future" have sud- 
denly become so trendy among down under politicians of all per- 
suasions. 31 



1 



"Popular Computing says 
The Home Accountant 
does just about everything 
you'd ask of a personal 
finance package."* 



"You mean you can use 
The Home Accountant 
for business, 
too?!" 




"Absolutely. 
Wouldn't want to run 
my consulting firm 
without it." 





"The Home Accountant 
Is the #1 best-selling 
home finance package 
in the world." 



"The Home Accountant 
even flags transactions for tax time. 

And that's a big time-saver 
because I can transfer information 
to The Tax Advantage™ program 
and easily figure out what I owe." 



"My company has 
5 checking accounts, 
6 business credit cards 
and 3 money market 
funds to keep track of. 
The Home Accountant 
makes it easy." 




I 



"Softalk Magazine 
says it's the most 

thorough and 
powerful program 
of its kind." t 

"I agree." 



"It automatically prints 
my checks. And gives 

them a very 
professional look." 



"The Home Accountant 
is great for 
realistic budgeting." 

"I'm so glad you brought 
it home. I never thought 
that creating a budget 
and managing money 
could be so easy." 




"You can create trend analyst! 
graphs for each budget 
category, so you can make 
isual comparisons of where 
you stand financially." 

"And you can do it in 
full-scale color graphics." 



* Popular Computing, November, 1982 
t Apple Softalk, April, 1982 





"The Home Accountant 
will even print a 
personal financial statement 
and net worth statement. 
Keeps me right on top of 
my finances." 




Everyone's talking about The Home Accountant. 



Is it because it's the #1 bestselling 
home finance package in the world? Or 
because it's extremely thorough and 
powerful and easy to use? Or because 
it's great for home and business use? 
Or because it has up to 200 budget 
categories and handles up to 5 
checking accounts? 

Yes. But there are a lot more reasons 
why people buy The Home Accountant. 
And why you will, too. 

Because The Home Accountant can 
literally save you hours of time. And 
take the headache out of handling your 
finances. Whether it's setting up a budget, 
cataloging your expenses, balancing 
your checkbooks or handling your 
credit cards and money market funds. 
For personal or business use. 

The Home Accountant and The Tax Advantage are registered trademarks of Continental Software Apple i 



The Home Accountant will even 
print net worth and financial state- 
ments. Not to mention being a lifesaver 
at tax time. Especially when you're able 
to transfer information onto Continen- 
tal's The Tax Advantage™ program and 
figure out what you owe. Quickly. 

In short, The Home Accountant is the 
most effective software program there 
is for managing your money. And man- 
aging it easily. 

Stop by your Continental Software 
dealer today and pick up The Home 
Accountant. You'll see what everyone's 
talking about. 

The Home Accountant is available 
for Apple II/IIe, IBM PC/XT, Atari 
400/800/1200XL, Osborne® TRS-80 
Models III/4, Commodore 64, Texas 



Instruments Professional, Zenith 
Z-100/110, Compaq and KayPro compu- 
ters. Actual budget capacities will vary 
with each computer. 

For your free 64 page booklet, "Tips 
For Buying Software," please write 
Continental Software, Dept. STA, 
11223 South Hindry Avenue, Los 
Angeles, CA 90045, 
213/417-8470. 




Continental 

Software 

A Division of Arrays, Inc. 





THE GIFT OF SPEECH. Now your computer can tell you the words you've always 
wanted to hear. Go ahead. Plug in a Mockingboard and feed your computer some 
lines. Sweet Micro Systems, Cranston, Rl 02920.(800) 341-8001. 

Mockingboard speech is easy to understand, unlimited in vocabulary and uses very 
little memory. No wonder over 40 leading software companies will soon be talking 
to you on Mockingboard. And you thought it was just for music and sound effects. 



M O C K I N 



PERSONAL COMPUTING 



OLD WORL 




BT DAVID HUNTER 



Extremely individualistic and infinitely more patient, Euro- 
peans live life at a slower pace than people in the United States. 
They believe that Americans only see the beginning and the end, 
never the middle. The histories of some countries are not counted 
by century but by millenia. 

Europeans may be slower to embrace, and excel at, personal 
computing than other people in the world. But this is not due to 
backwardness, laziness, snobbishness, and slowness— meaning 
lack of intellectual wherewithal. 

If anything explains their slower pace, it's that Europeans are 
too practical, too cautious, too conservative, and too intellectual. 
They are not without shortcomings, but these are the strengths 
that keep Europe standing tall in even the shakiest of times. Not 
rushing headlong into a volatile market like the worldwide com- 
puter industry is hardly due to lack of initiative. Let's not forget 
that it was European scientists and researchers who supplied the 
basic knowledge needed to create computers. Let's not forget that 
America is a melting pot and that Steve Wozniak was not bred of 
generations of drawling Texans. 

Emerging Europeans. On a person-to-person basis, most 
Europeans are not as gung-ho about personal computers as Amer- 
icans. In France, though, this is changing. In England, it depends 



on your definition of a personal computer. Below the six-hun- 
dred-dollar price range, so-called personal computers are quite 
popular. In England, there's this homegrown Nolan Bushnell-like 
guy named Clive Sinclair who has sold hundreds of thousands of 
his ZX-80 and ZX-81 home computers. 

Commodore computers are fairly popular in some countries 
because they sell for less than $300. The price factor, far more 
than the concept, has kept true personal computing from really 
taking off there. In fact, it's not all that different than it was in the 
United States a few years ago. But pricing is not the only inhibit- 
ing factor, just the most obvious one. 




People in Europe are not the impulsive buyers Americans are. 
They ask over and over again, "What will this thing do for me?" 
Again, there is a certain similarity to the situation in the United 
States. American consumers have gobbled up ten million or so 
cheap computers with which they can play Pac-Man. But Apple 
has only sold a million and a half personal computers. 

When you add to the basic conservative European attitude to- 
ward new technology the fact that good software is often difficult 
to find, it's not surprising that personal computing in Europe is 
just now growing up. "Personal" software is practically nonexis- 
tent. Europeans on the whole do not share Americans' love of ar- 
cade, strategy, adventure, and fantasy role-playing games. Up 
until last year, the vast majority of Apples were used in busi- 
ness—for accounting, managing inventories, forecasting, word 
processing, and the like. 

But the situation appears to be changing. In Europe, 1983 was 
a very good year for Apple. Dealers now number around fifteen 
hundred in the twenty-one countries Apple considers its European 
market— the United Kingdom, West Germany, France, the Neth- 
erlands, Italy, Austria, Belgium, Sweden, Cyprus, Spain, Den- 
mark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Israel, Malta, Norway, Portu- 
gal, Switzerland, Turkey, and Yugoslavia. 

The folks at Apple Computer International, Apple's strategic 
center for European marketing and sales located just outside 
Paris, say that Europe tends to fall into north and south regions 



characterized by the culture and mentality of the inhabitants. 
Generally speaking, countries like France and Italy have been 
faster to accept the personal computer phenomenon because the 
people's personalities are lighter, more creative, with even a cer- 
tain sense of playful craziness, whereas the northern peoples, 
such as those in England and West Germany, approach the whole 
thing more logically. 

The major European countries for Apple are England, 
France, Italy, and West Germany, with the rest lumped together 
in a category known as the General European Area. This is not to 
say that other countries are not as important, but Sweden, for in- 
stance, has sales numbering only a few thousand. A country like 
France, meanwhile, is fast becoming a major market. 

The key for Apple, and for personal computing in general, is 
to localize the product so that it appeals to a specific country's 
consumers. Localization is a term that applies to the design of the 
machine itself— such as the keyboard, character set EPROMs, 
and video interface. For instance, most European languages have 
different ways of writing quotation marks, monetary symbols, 
and accent marks; many also have additional letters in the 
alphabets. Localization also refers to the process software must 
go through before it can appeal to any but those who understand 
English. 

Interpretive EuroApples. Localization, however, involves 
much more than just changing English into German and recon- 
figuring keyboards. The way software is structured and the way it 
performs are subject to a wide range of conditions throughout 
Europe. Similarly, the way Apples are marketed and supported is 
different from country to country. The real trick is to walk the 
thin line of localizing a product for each country but not losing the 
overall consistency that makes an Apple recognizable whether it's 
in the hands of a user in Marseille, Osaka, or Fort Worth. 

The problem of importing good software from the States is be- 
ing solved slowly but surely. Apple itself is localizing most of its 
popular packages, including Apple Writer, III E-Z Pieces, Ap- 
pleWorks, Basic, Logo, Pascal, and more. Some of the large 
American firms are also taking an active interest in marketing 
their software in Europe. Among these are Microsoft, Lotus, and 
Sir-tech. 

Still, the root of the software problem lies in European soil. 
There just hasn't been enough good local software— the kind the 
Europeans would know best how to create — to generate interest in 
personal computing. A flood of entrepreneur- founded software 
firms hasn't swept this region as it has the United States. 

One way Apple is helping to change this situation is by en- 
couraging European companies to market their software in the 
United States and other foreign countries. If Apple is 
metaphorically in the record player business, then the company is 
doing its best to help people make records that play on its 
machines. And, like in the record business, it's crucial that soft- 
ware appeal to a population's culture rather than only to its in- 
tellect. Apple software must become more than just another 
American anomaly. It must become part of the European value 
system. The best way for Apple to do this is to show Europeans 
how to create their own software instead of leaving them to use 
refurbished American wares. 

One important area is education, and Apples are finding their 
way into European schools in increasing numbers. Apple has a 
Kids Can't Wait-type program in most countries. In France the 
program is called The Future Can't Wait and last year Apple sold 
ten thousand He's to French schools. In England, Apple has a lot 



Something no modem has ever said before. 





As you'll notice, the Apple Modem is hardly 
noticeable under a desk phone. 



If you're looking for a premium modem 
without a premium price, here's a word of advice: 
Apple. 

Introducing the Apple Modem 300. And, to 
keep up with the busi- 
ness world, our faster 
Apple Modem 1200. 
Inside, they're pack- 
ed with all the technical 
wizardry you would want 
in an intelligent modem. 
Auto-dial. Auto-answer. 
Built-in error diagnostics. 
And compatibility with all the latest advanced 
communications software. 

But the real message is located outside, due 
north of the little green light. 

That one familiar symbol tells you as much 
as a gigabyte of specs. It says Apple quality Apple 
technology And in the unlikely event you should 
need it, Apple service. 

It also means total compatibility with what- 
ever Apple you own. Particularly since we include 
the right accessory kit to get any system in our line 
on line. Immediately 

We even give you a subscription offer to 
THE SOURCE'and a free demonstration of Compu- 
Serve! Together, they let you access almost any 
subject known to mainframes. 



News reports. Dow Jones averages. 
Sports scores. Closing prices on pork bellies. 

You can send electronic mail. Play games. 
Bank at home. Make friends. Influence people. 
Find the lowest air fares for business trips. Or do 
almost anything else you like. 

And since the computer age happens to 
coincide with the plastic age, you can charge your 
Apple Modem with an Apple Credit Card. 

Which, along with the low price, makes 
buying an Apple Modem as much fun as using one. 

That's something no modem has 
been able to say before, 
either. 




Vie cable, phone cord and 
power supply are all included. Ami 
we offer a serial interface card for tlx 
Apple lie at an unusually reasonable price. 



Soon there'll be just two kinds of people. 
Those who use computers. And , 
those who use Apples.' 



For an authorized Apple dealer nearest you call (800) 538-9696. In Canada, call (800) 268-7796 or (800) 268-7637. © 1984 Apple Computer, Inc. Apple and the Apple logo are registered 
trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. CompuServe is a registerd trademark of CompuServe Corp. THE SOURCE is a servicemark of Source Telecomputing Corporation, a subsidiary ofThe Reader's Digest Association, Inc. 



of competition from the Acorn, a locally produced machine. 
Price, again, is something of a barrier, preventing widespread 
use of personal computers in education in Europe. 

EuroMacs on the Move. A plan similar to Apple's stateside 
University Consortium program with Macintosh is being con- 
sidered. But higher education in Europe is much different than in 
the United States. Getting universities to agree to buy $2 million 
worth of merchandise, produce software, and then share that soft- 
ware will be a tricky business. Apple is convinced, though, that 
Europeans can only gain from such a program. Putting Macintosh 
technology into the hands of eager students is intended to en- 
courage a homegrown software industry. 

In terms of add-on hardware and peripherals, there's a grow- 
ing number of companies offering such high-end items as 
joysticks and paddles. And a few manufacturers are bringing out 
hard disks. But in hardware, as everywhere, the practicality of 
most Europeans is evident. There is no reason, for instance, for a 
company to introduce a new Z-80 card when Microsoft already 
offers one. The same logic applies to monitors and printers. 

Currently, only a very small fraction of Europeans work out 
of their homes with personal computers. Resistance to this trend 
stems from the same attitudes that can be found in the United 
States: Many people just plain like going somewhere to work. 
The facts that most employers don't trust their workers and that 
most employees are fond of interacting with their fellows are 
keeping the so-called electronic cottage from catching on in 
Europe and the United States. 

On the other hand, there are practical reasons why working at 
home may one day be mandatory for some Europeans. Cities 
such as Paris and London are so choked with automobile traffic 
that the mechanics of moving people in and out each day is 
becoming a major concern. And the time people spend in 
automobiles, or on buses and trains, is essentially wasted. 

People will tend to work at home when the infrastructure 
allows them to— when there are less expensive communications 
and a deliberate democratization of business practices. 
Employers have to realize that it doesn't always matter where 
people reside while they work. What counts is the result of the 
work. People can be paid according to their productivity, not just 
according to attendance. 

The Videotex Challenge. One potential threat to personal 
computing in Europe is videotex, a system whereby graphics and 
text are sent to dumb terminals in homes via telephone lines. Both 
France and England have burgeoning videotex services and are 
years ahead of the United States in this promising technology. In 
France, for instance, videotex is replacing the need for a 
telephone directory service. Using a small terminal with a full 
keyboard and screen, Parisians can get information faster and 
more efficientiy by searching through directories than by talking 
over the phone. Many other information services are available, 
but, since the terminals only receive information, videotex is by 
no means comparable to personal computing. 

Still, videotex is continuing to evolve. There is the possibility 
of two-way videotex becoming affordable and practical sometime 
this century. There is also the possibility that manufacturers could 
include video recorders, television sets, stereos, and personal 
computers in one big package. These mass marketing approaches 
to personal computing are more a challenge than a threat to com- 
panies like Apple. Videotex is roughly akin to a state-issued bicy- 
cle, and a TV/stereo/pc is an expensive RV. Personal computers 
are private cars, ranging in price and performance from inexpen- 



sive Volkswagens to BMWs and Mercedeses. 

The speed of penetration of new technology in Europe, ac- 
cording to some, is traditionally slow at first. Whether it be com- 
puters, stereos, or videotape players, a foreign company can ex- 
pect about 10 percent of its sales to come from Europe until the 
technology matures. But once this happens, Europe may account 
for more than 50 percent of sales. 

The total GNP for Europe is roughly equal to that of the 
United States. And the size of the overall population of Europe is 
probably a little more than that of the States. At some point the 
European market is likely to equal or even surpass the U.S. 
market. 

American companies have to foster a two-way situation, a 
more balanced trade with Europe. There are practical reasons for 
this approach, but the motives need not be limited to increasing 
profits alone. 

Life Goes On. Last month in a special cover story, Newsweek 
painted a not-so-pretty picture of Europe. In most countries high 
unemployment is a problem. European industries are struggling 
because of both the current economic slump and increased 
foreign competition. Cooperation between the various countries 
seems to be at a low point; both the EEC (European Economic 
Community) and NATO alliances are in trouble. 

Relations between the United States and some European coun- 
tries are strained. Our foreign policy is met with expressions of 
approval or with angry scowls. Likewise, American companies 
that set up shop on European soil are sometimes welcomed and 
sometimes given the cold shoulder. 

When approaching the subject of personal computing in the 
Old World, it's impossible to ignore the overall bad news from 
Europe, but the generally bleak picture that's painted by the mass 
media is sometimes a less than accurate representation of what's 
going on. The media has jumped on the "Decline of Europe" 
bandwagon, just as it has heralded the arrival of the personal 
computer industry shakeout. Another point of view is that Europe 
is just going through one of its periodic economic slumps and the 
American computer industry is just shaking off the slaggards and 
bunglers. 

Okay. You ask, "On a personal level, what about the one out 
of every ten Europeans who is out of work? What about all those 
workers that Coleco just laid off?" Without question these are 
tragedies on a personal level. But to make the blanket statements 
that IBM, with its multi-billion-dollar guns, is going to sink Ap- 
ple, and that America and "Japan Inc." are going to collectively 
sink Europe, is to ignore both the lessons of history and the reali- 
ty that surrounds us. 

Apple's European Family Ties. In the late seventies, a hardy 
group of pioneers took their relatively primitive Apple U and II 
Plus computers and started an industry that is still growing, still 
contributing wonderful things to life here in the United States. 
The Artwicks, Budges, Bricklins, Clardys, Williamses, 
Carlstons, Pelczarskis, Kapors, Woodheads, Greenbergs, and 
Wagners have climbed to great heights and still haven't reached 
the top of the software world. 

Can you imagine what those pioneers could have accom- 
plished had they started with Macs, He's, He's, and Lisas? Well, 
get ready. The Europeans are getting into stride, and they have 
the benefit of years of Apple's march forward in hardware design. 
Expect to see some great software coming from over there in the 
next few years. Expect to see software with a touch of English 
manners, French joie de vivre, and Italian spice. 31 



The Pick of the Crop 



The Brady Co. now has on display 
the tastiest, crunchiest, and shiniest 
books for you and your Apple. Among 
all the Apple volumes on the market, 
only Brady presents the Pick of the 
Crop. 

To harvest the best, the Brady 
Company begins early in the season 
by choosing with care, the authors 
who are the experts in the personal 
computing field. They are also the 
writers and teachers with the most 
experience with the Apple. 

They're then set to work under the 
optimum creative climate, so they 
can write the books you'll want to 
read. The Brady Co. publishes their 
work in attractive, durable volumes, 
giving you a nourishing product at an 
affordable price. The result is an 
Apple book as good on the inside as it 
looks on the outside, with enough 
great taste to stay with you for a long, 
long time. 



"Applesoft BASIC for the 
Apple II/IIe" 

by Lois Graft Larry Joel Goldstein 

This is a practical guide to Apple- 
soft BASIC which makes learning 
easy, even for those without pro- 
gramming experience. Most of the 
applications programs can be easily 
applied to specific personal and pro- 
fessional needs. 

1983/320pp/paper/ISBN 0-89303-320-0/ 
D3200-5/S17.95 

"Apple Graphics: Activities 
Handbook" 

by Harold J. Bailey, J. Edward Kerlin 

Here's a "hands on" approach to 
learning both low and high resolution 
graphics for the Apple. Step-by-step, 
users will learn by doing. The 
graphics novice and the more sophis- 
ticated graphics user will find just the 
right activities to maximize the 
graphics capabilities of the Apple II 
and He. 

1983/300pp/ paper / ISBN 0-89303-308-l/$14.95 
Book/Diskette 1983/ISBN 0-89303-310-3/$24.95 



"Programming the Apple II 
and He; A Structured 
Approach, Revised and 
Enlarged" 

by John L. Campbell, Lance 
Zimmerman 

This is the guide that will take 
you down the right path to pro- 
gramming your Apple in BASIC. The 
approach presents the BASIC lan- 
guage as a problem-solving tool, 
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PROGRAMMING 

THE APPLE 

. Structured Approach 





? 



116 



sunn 



MAY 1984 





APPLES 
IN 

GERMANY 




The Mercedes of 
Personal Computers 

BT EDEN RECOR 

Apples play a role in a variety of applications in Germany. In 
southwest Germany they're pressed and made into apple wine. 
The Sachsenhausen section of Frankfurt is well known for this 
wine, as many American tourists can attest. Apples are also an 
essential ingredient of a fine pastry called Apfelstrudel. Howev- 
er, there's another kind of Apple that interests Germans, and it's 
made by Apple Computer. 

Approximately sixty thousand Apple computers exist in Ger- 
many. Of these, only about 5 percent are found in the home. 
Also, Apples aren't found in schools here as often as in America. 
Instead, they're being used in small businesses and by profes- 
sionals such as lawyers and doctors. 

Give Me a Home Where the Apfelstrudels Roam. Up until 
last year, Apple computers were sold by distributors in this coun- 
try. The first distributor was a Hamburg-based company called 
Basis. The firm started distributing Apples about two years after 
the Commodore started selling in Germany. Then Basis decided 
to build its own computer that, amazingly enough, happens to run 
Apple software. Another company, Apple Computer Marketing, 
then took over the distribution of the Apple, with Basis still main- 
taining some distribution rights. 

About a year ago, Apple Computer began consolidating its 
European operations and bought out several distributors. This 
brought European operations under Apple International, head- 
quartered in Paris. German distribution is now handled by Apple 
Computer Marketing GMBH, with basic prices and strategies 
fixed in Paris. 

Another reason for Apple's poor showing in the home is cost. 
During the early years, Apples cost more in this country than they 
did in America. In Germany, it often takes $100,000 collateral to 
get a loan of $40,000. Credit cards are almost unknown except in 
shops catering to tourists. Home loans normally are for ten-year 



periods and have correspondingly higher monthly payments. 
These higher loan payments reduce the amount of income that can 
be spent on nonessential goods. This means that consumers here 
have to save cash before purchasing a car, television, or computer. 

A few years ago, the money that could be saved by going to 
the United States on vacation and picking up an Apple would pay 
plants in Cork, Ireland, and since Apple International's takeover 
of the German market, Apple prices have been kept on a par with 
those in America, making them more affordable products. 

Culture Shock. Americans can be characterized as people 
who will first buy a computer, then ask, "Okay, what can it do 
for me?" and then go on to find all sorts of uses for it. That at- 
titude doesn't exist in Germany. A German will first ask, "What 
will it do for me?" and then someone will have to convince him 
before he buys. American dealers, used to people dropping in 
who already want a computer, don't have to do the same kind of 
sales job on people that German dealers do. 

As a result, the dealer network in Germany is set up to handle 
professional users, which probably explains why about one in ten 
Apples sold here is an Apple III. A survey of dealers reveals that 
many of them are not sure that there's a use for a computer in the 
home. One German attitude is that a computer is for work— and 
who wants to do work at home? Many feel that having a computer 
pens you up inside the house and somehow corrupts you, making 
you forget about other aspects of life. They prefer using their 
spare time for gardening, engaging in sports, visiting friends, and 
going for walks. The country is not as dependent on television as 
America is, and this attitude carries over to computers. 

In America, exposure to computers in the school has brought 
them into many homes. This hasn't occurred in Germany. Until 
recently, the branch of the German government that controls 
education had held the position that if school funds were to be 
spent on computers, then Commodore machines must be pur- 
chased. Most German kids exposed to Commodores have said that 
they are great game machines but that they would really like to 
have a computer like the Apple in school. Students with Com- 
modores at home because of the cost say their next computer will 
be an Apple. The computers they have used are viewed as game 
machines, and why spend a lot of money to play games? 

The situation in the schools may be changing soon. The 
government is considering legislation to allow computers to be 
donated to schools for tax write-offs similar to the Apple Com- 
puter donation program in California. The government may also 
be relaxing the restrictions within which computers may be pur- 
chased by a school. 

This summer, a German-language version of Logo should be 
available for the Apple II. Apple is finally being recognized as 
having a machine with much to offer higher-grade German 
schools. However, there still won't be much happening in the 
grade schools because computers are not recognized as having 
any use there. 

Sports Model or Sedan? An emerging overall awareness of 
the personal computer may be changing the situation throughout 
the country. One recent Sunday afternoon, a two-hour program 
on the use of computers in the home gave a very good European 
viewpoint on all the different aspects of home computing. Apple 
Computer was heavily featured. Also, three times in the last 
month a program called Kinder vom Apple und Atari (Kids of the 
Apple and Atari) ran on German television. In addition, major 
magazines are now starting to notice personal computers and run 
articles on them. 



Many people here have been waiting for higher technology 
and don't want to risk buying an earlier-generation computer that 
may quickly become obsolete. With Apple's introduction of the 
Macintosh, the company will probably convince many that an ad- 
vanced technology has arrived, one that won't leave them behind. 
Apple is considered the Mercedes of personal computers in Ger- 
many; a German consumer will save money a long time to buy 
one because, as it is in the car, the quality is recognized. 

Probably the one event that will most affect home and school 
use of the Apple is the introduction of the Etc. This new machine, 
with its current Apple software compatibility, German key- 
board, low cost, and well-engineered layout, is sure to drive 
Apple directly into schools and homes. Sold through department 
stores, the lie will bring computers into the sight and reach of 
many families that wouldn't normally visit an authorized dealer. 
At the same time, businesses will also be considering the other 
Apple machines— Mac and Lisa— for those applications where 
Apples were not even thought of before. 

There's No Mischas like Soft Mischas. Apples in Germany 
are now used mostly in professional situations. Most programs 
running on the machines are written in Pascal, originally defined 
in Switzerland and very quickly accepted in European univer- 
sities. Most students studying programming learn it, and most 
software houses write exclusively in the language. 

Several powerful accounting packages for the II have been 
available here for the last three years. Versions have also been 
transferred to the HI to take advantage of the extra memory and 
capabilities of that machine. Two powerful relational databases, 
called Aladdin and Beta, are also available for the two computers, 
bringing them mainframe and mini power. In addition, a Lisa- 
like database interface called Fred has been developed for the HI 
that uses a joystick, and a mouse version will soon follow. All 
three packages will soon be available stateside, and the com- 
panies that have developed them— Adi and Bensa— will be work- 
ing on Mac and Lisa versions. 

Many American software companies such as Microsoft, 
MicroPro, and VisiCorp are beginning to bring their software to 
Europe as German products— all three now have German offices 
or distributors. All of Quark's products are being translated into 
German and distributed in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. 

Translating software into a foreign language is a long and dif- 
ficult job. Many manuals written for U.S. programs can't be 
directly translated and often require complete rewrites, especially 
of tutorials and examples. German is more difficult than English 
in that many of the technical terms require longer words (com- 
pound nouns) than in English. Sentence structure is also different 
with regard to the location of verbs in German. Often there's no 
standard technical term that makes sense in precisely the way it 
does in English. Consequently, programs require more coding 
area and can overflow memory. 

A program such as VisiCalc, which uses a command structure 
based on spoken English, is a good example of another problem. 
A P for print means little to a German-speaking person, since the 
counterpart word in German doesn't start with the same 
character. In German, D for drucken would be a better print com- 
mand. Some programs intertwine commands into the program- 
ming code so well that it's difficult to find and change them easily 
in a translation job. 

Better than Esperanto. Apple now makes its machines in- 
ternationally compatible. Starting with the HI, all Apple products 
come with keyboards, character sets, and power supplies for the 




The meandering Main River is a tributary of the Rhine, which rises in 
Switzerland and flows west across Germany and the Netherlands to the 
North Sea. The famous river is navigable by smaller vessels as far as 
Cologne. 

country in which they're sold. Lisa and Macintosh software 
development kits contain tools that help developers convert to 
foreign languages, and Apple publishes guidelines on how to 
write programs that can be easily translated. 

It took special planning by Apple International to ensure that 
the Mac would be 50/60 Hz-compatible. As a result of these 
efforts, Apple can now announce a machine around the world on 
the same day, something few other companies can do. 

Quite a few German business clients are "computer-shy," the 
way most Americans were a few years ago. They fear they'll hurt 
something when they get an error message and immediately 
freeze up. A lot less familiar with their systems than their 
American counterparts, they call their dealers for help. 

Many Apple dealers in Germany are also software develop- 
ers, functioning more in the role of consultants than U.S. dealers. 
In many cases they design a system to meet a customer's needs, 




The Bavarian Alps overlook Apple's central Europe sales and marketing 
offices in Munich. Extensively bombed during World War II, the city was 
the birthplace of Adolf Hitler's National Socialist German Workers Party. 



118 



mum 



MAY 1984 





Life seems barely changed— except for computers— on a small rural farm 
in Germany. One-third of West Germany is devoted to agriculture. 



install it, and continue to give plenty of postsale support. Since 
they are dealing with professional buyers, they charge extra for 
this kind of support. 

Apple Computer held its first developers conference in Ger- 
many last October, the first exposure many software houses had 
to Apple's third-party software development efforts. Attendees 
were surprised at how much Apple can give in the way of 
preliminary software programming tools and marketing help. An- 
other conference is scheduled this month. 

A lot of software being developed and used in this country is 
what's known as vertical market software— specialized packages 
for a specific use. Many software houses develop programs for a 
small market segment and then make their living customizing it 
for each buyer. 

Among the more interesting German vertical market pro- 
grams are Baeckeri (with three companies using the same name) 
and Back. These programs do bakery management, everything 
from entering orders as they are taken over the telephone and 
handling billing, to determining baking schedules and planning 
delivery routes. Kabel is for electric wiring installation and does 
cost estimating, calculation of parts, inventory control, and con- 
tract writing. Fasu is a driving school management package (in 
Germany, everyone must attend driving school to get a driver's 
license). Mika, Mischa, and Mipreis are for the production of 
windows (for homes and offices, not for Lisas). Jewela is de- 
signed for jewelers, who use it to keep track of their inventory. 

The Auge of Members Is upon You. There's one large Ap- 
ple users group— A.U.G.E. (Apple User's Group Europe)— that 
has most of its members in Germany. Currently, members 
number about four thousand, 80 percent of whom are 
home/hobby-oriented. About half of them own Apples, while the 
other half own compatibles of one type or another. Some 
members have even built their own Apples. A.U.G.E. {Auge 
means eye in German) consists of forty-five different groups 
throughout the continent; other local chapters exist in 
Switzerland, Luxembourg, Norway, Yugoslavia, and Hungary. 

The president of A.U.G.E., Klaus Schmidt, believes that the 
Macintosh is reawakening interest in Apple computers and may 



bring members back from the various compatibles they've pur- 
chased. So far, the group has released about thirty public-domain 
disks of various programs. Their address is Postfach 110169, 
4200 Oberhausen 11, West Germany. 

A WordStar Topping Every Tree. Once users have pur- 
chased programs in Germany, it's very unlikely that anyone is 
going to come after them for violating a copy protection regula- 
tion if they give copies to all their friends. That's not viewed as 
being in violation of any copyright laws, unless the disk is actual- 
ly sold. 

Among developers, there's a reluctance to develop any pro- 
grams such as games or educational software for the masses. 
Most feel that they won't have large enough sales to warrant 
bringing such software to the market. Most home/hobby users 
with Apples also have CP/M cards, or something similar, and 
possess copies of WordStar and dBase II, given to them by 
friends. Thus, it's little wonder that copy protection is on 
developers' minds when they bring out new packages in this 
country. If anything, widespread copying is one of the most in- 
hibiting factors to wider software development in Germany. 

As part of a Christmas promotion, Apple included a game 
with each He sold. This game was a well-written adventure— said 
to be the first written in German— that takes several weeks to 
complete. However, several recipients of the bonus game were 
surprised when its authors offered it to a dealer for commercial 
distribution. They felt that a game should be free! 

The Armed Forces March on Their Software. There are 
about six hundred thousand Americans associated with the U.S. 
armed forces stationed in Germany. A couple of years ago, when 
Apple in Cupertino discontinued all mail order sales to the coun- 
try, these Americans were abandoned. If they went to German 
computer dealers, there were often language problems, and the 
dealers couldn't help them much in terms of software. And if they 
had friends purchase computers for them stateside and ship them, 
they were without warranty service. The problem of adapting to 
European voltages also has to be considered. 

This situation has started to change, with four military ex- 
change computer stores now carrying Apple products. There are 
computer clubs forming at large bases, and there are several 
original equipment manufacturers selling to Americans. Also, 
many German dealers are beginning to recognize that Americans 
are very good customers and are giving them better support. 

Buying a machine in Germany has several advantages. All 
Apple products purchased here have a one-year warranty while 
they remain in the country, with easy conversion from 1 10-volt to 
220- volt use. German He's also have a keyboard with both Ger- 
man and English keycaps. A flick of a switch brings up the de- 
sired keyboard and font— an advantage for children who are 
learning German. 

Apples Are Looking More Delicious. Apple Computer is 
starting to take off in Germany. The company currently has 
seventy-five busy employees there — almost double the number it 
had a year ago. This April, Apple moved to new offices in 
Munich, a sure sign of growth. At the Hanover Fair, the world's 
largest trade fair (with everything from trains to micros), Apple 
had its largest booth ever, including thirty-five debuting Macin- 
toshes for use by fair attendees. 

Perhaps one of the happiest things to occur in Germany this 
year is the country's first Applefest, which will take place in Mu- 
nich this summer. Who knows— maybe in a few years the Ap- 
plefest will match the Oktoberfest in popularity. 31 



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The Problem of Wheat 

VI ANDREW CHRISTIE 

Mankind has never before had such ample technical and financial 
resources for coping with hunger and poverty. The immense task 
can be tackled once the necessary collective will is mobilized. 
What is necessary can be done, and must be done. 

—North-South: A Program For Survival, 

The Brandt Commission, 1980 



On the first day of 1984, the government of Tunisia made a 
mistake. It removed the agricultural subsidy that had kept a 
small loaf of bread priced at about seven cents for the last twenty 
years. This error increased the price of grain products 100 per- 
cent overnight. 

A wave of demonstrations, beginning among the poorest peo- 
ple in the arid southern rural provinces, swept northward through 
the unemployed and underemployed — a fourth of the country's 
population— and rocked the capital city of Tunis. President Habib 
Bourguiba proclaimed a state of national emergency; tanks 
rumbled through the streets; soldiers and police killed some 
forty-five rioters in Tunis and sixty more in the provinces. 
Finally, six days later, Bourguiba announced that prices would be 
returned to their previous levels immediately, and, just as im- 
mediately, calm was restored. 

The price hike turned out to be a bad idea. But no bad idea is 
that simple, according to Charles K. Mann, associate director of 
agriculture and social sciences for the Rockefeller Foundation. 
"When the proposal to drop the subsidy completely was pre- 
sented to the minister of national economy, he asked his staff, 
'What would be the financial impact of reducing the subsidy by 
about 20 percent instead of dropping it altogether?' " says Mann. 

"They advised him that it would take several days to do these 
calculations. As a decision was required immediately on the 
budget, they went forward with the alternative that had been 
costed out— that of dropping the bread subsidy entirely. Had they 
had a VisiCalc model, they could have calculated in a matter of 
minutes the effect of a 20 percent reduction in the subsidy." 



Had computers been involved in the economic ministry's de- 
cision to cut off the bread subsidy, a less drastic change in the 
bread price might have resulted and the food riots might have 
been averted. 

"That is the kind of analytical capacity the policymakers [in 
Tunisia] want," says Mann, "and it is what computers have 
helped them get in the Ministry of Agriculture." 

Those computers are Apples, and how they got there is an ad- 
venture in foreign affairs. What the Tunisians had to say about 
them was "Fantastic!" 

This year, famine is looming over Africa again. The African 
problem of chronic hunger is deeply rooted, going back to the 
policies of the nineteenth-century colonial governments and their 
emphasis on industry and urban development at the expense of 
agriculture and basic food production. Ironically, the tool that is 
the most salient symbol of postindustrial high technology has now 
come to the aid of the developing nations in the fight against 
hunger— and they will need all the help they can get. 

From a Single Seed. In Tunisia, as in many developing na- 
tions, much depends on the current disposition of the grain crop. 
Since it dominates the diet of the people and is the main source of 
calories and nutrients, any fluctuation in the price or availability 
of bread is a serious matter. Africa is the only area of the world 
where food production has actually declined in the last ten years, 
despite increased aid and concern— and in tandem with a steadily 
increasing population. 

That's why, when the Rockefeller Foundation organized a re- 
view of cereal production and policy in 1980, the foundation took 
an interest in Tunisia's agricultural fortunes, seriously flagging 
since the late seventies. 

Charles Mann was part of the team that put Apples in Tuni- 
sia's Ministry of Agriculture. He has considerable experience 
with the governments of developing nations, the problem of 
wheat, and Apple computers. 

"There is," says Mann, "broad recognition that many of the 
Third World's hunger problems don't stem from a lack of tech- 
nology to produce more food, but from poor management— pub- 
lic and private— and government policies that discourage food 
production. The foundation is working with several Third World 
nations to help them overcome these barriers to higher food pro- 
duction and consumption." 

When the foundation launched its food and agricultural policy 
project, the expertise of Chris Mock made her the woman for the 
job. She had done extensive research on grain distribution, knew 
the structure of the Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture, and was 
trained in economic development and management. Mock first 
worked in Tunisia in 1974 as a consultant for the U.S. Agency for 
International Development (AID) and the World Bank. She came 
to the agricultural sciences division of the Rockefeller Foundation 
in 1978, and, at her suggestion, Tunisia was included in the 
cereal review project. 

Mock arrived in Tunis in June 1980 for a series of study plan- 
ning sessions with Badr Ben Amar, head of planning for cereals 
and economic analysis for the Ministry, and various members of 
the Tunisian Commission Centrale and the National Institute of 
Agronomy (INAT). Quite apart from the cereal project, her pri- 
mary observation was that the Tunisian analysts were spending 
too much time doing routine spreadsheet analysis and projections. 
Also, they had no rapid information feedback system that could 
let them know if they were meeting their objectives in the crucial 
areas of fertilizer and herbicide deliveries. 



MAY 1984 



SOETALK 



121 



Mock reported to Charles Mann on the frustration and drudg- 
ery that plagued workers in the Ministry of Agriculture and in the 
county extension offices where they were doing the work of a 
computer with pencil and paper. At her urging, project funds 
were directed toward the purchase of a dozen programmable cal- 
culators for the Ministry's Office of Planning, and two desk cal- 
culators for every county office in Tunisia. 

"Although work at the lower levels was speeded up substan- 
tially," says Mann, "at the higher levels the appetite for a mi- 
crocomputer system was whetted rather than satisfied by the 
calculators." 

The need was clear, and Mann could relate. In his case, he 
had been converted to the joys of micros by experiencing the 
trials of mainframe computer time-sharing in Turkey in 1976, 
when political upheaval blocked the access of his field study 
group to the Middle East University's IBM 370. The computer 
center's staff was suddenly replaced with personnel more 
politically acceptable to the new regime but somewhat lacking in 
knowledge of computers. It was two years before the study's data 
could be input to the computer. 

Mann's work with the data involved "counting manually on 
our dining room table the responses to several of the questions on 
the survey forms. While this is one way to get a good feel for in- 
dividual farmer responses, it creates a certain predisposition to 
view warmly the advent of the microcomputer." 

While investigating the project's request for a microcom- 
puter, Mann discovered that the USDA was operating two North- 
star Horizon micros in the Office of Statistics, one floor below the 
planning office in the Ministry. However, they were dedicated 
solely to the processing of their survey data and had no spare 
capacity for other projects. Even if there had been a possibility of 
time-sharing, Mann points out, it would have been something of a 
moot point. 

"In the early months of this installation, apparently the Tuni- 
sians had considerable difficulty in getting the Northstars to run 
properly. It was an imposing-looking installation," he explains. 
"I don't believe it ever crossed Ben Amar's mind that he could 
actually sit down at this computer and run programs— if you 
needed something done and it involved a computer, you took it to 
some programmer and he did it. This clearly was handled as a 
computer center-type installation where the only persons allowed 
to approach the machine were those trained in its use. 

"On one visit, we could not even locate anyone who could 
physically unlock the door even to let us look at the machines." 

Nevertheless, there were Northstar microcomputers already 
in Tunisia. Should the Office of Planning have its own? Mann 
consulted with a colleague who used two of them in business. 

"After telling me what absolutely marvelous machines they 
were, he concluded by saying that if he were in my position, and 
despite the Northstar 's technical superiority, he would recom- 
mend Apples. In his words, 'They are ubiquitous; they are ap- 
proachable; they have a reputation for excellent reliability, and 
there is a far larger software universe available for them.' " 

In September 1981 a reluctant Rockefeller Foundation— 
which wanted hard numbers on the computers' uses and expected 
results— agreed to ship the Tunisians two complete Apple sys- 
tems. The cereal review project was scheduled to end in Decem- 
ber, so Mann planned a package that he hoped would offer the 
best possible chance for success in the meager period of time 
available. He placed the greatest emphasis in four areas. 

"First, that we build into the system a great deal of redun- 



dancy so that the failure of any one component would not put the 
whole system down; second, that the software be well proven and 
include a variety of packages to handle common office and ana- 
lytical tasks; third, that there be an excellent training component; 
and fourth, that the senior managers as well as the technicians 
have hands-on experience with the system so that they would 
understand the variety of tasks that it could do." 

Everything was set. System specialists John and Barbara 
McMullen agreed to design, assemble, and test an appropriate 
hardware/ software configuration, and to make periodic trips to 
Tunisia to help in getting various applications up and running and 
to bring in any needed replacement parts— the nearest Apple serv- 
ice facilities then were in Egypt and Europe. 

At the last moment, the foundation turned down the request 
for funding for the training portion of the program. 

Immediately, Mann turned to independent video producer 
Martha Stuart and offered to pay out of his own pocket to put to- 
gether some instructional videotapes that would at least provide 
some kind of training for new microcomputer users. She agreed. 
The five videotapes, now known commercially as the Powershar- 
ing series, featured the McMullens chatting informally with 
Mann and others on the uses of the Apple U and were included 
with the system— two Apple II Plus computers and a selection of 
commercial software— when it finally arrived in Tunis at the 
Ministry of Agriculture's Office of Planning in February 1982. 

The cereal policy and production review had been over for 




George Varughese (yellow hat), CIMMYT plant scientist, points out signs of 
soil nutrient deficiency in young wheat plants to Chris Mock and Tunisian 
planner Badr Ben Amar. 



122 



MAY 1984 



two months. There would be no more funds from the foundation. 
Between themselves, Chris Mock and Charles Mann agreed to 
continue without pay to help the Tunisians get their Apples up 
and running and learn how to use the dozen or so programs sent 
with them. 

How To Grow a User Group. Meanwhile, Chris Mock had 
made a discovery: There was an Apple installation in Kasserine, 
in central Tunisia, four hours from the Ministry by car. A rural 
development project was using the Apple to assist in a baseline 
survey, doing complex statistical analysis tasks involving a large 
number of variables. Two Cornell sociologists had invested about 
two thousand hours in creating the software and setting up 
technical training. The end results, however, resembled those of 
the Northstar installation in Tunis. 

' 'The reports of others suggest that the project functioned ef- 
fectively during the times when the expatriate consultants were 
there," Mann recalls, "but that not much happened when they 
were gone. To the extent that the equipment was used, it was used 
for such things as managing the payroll rather than the intended 
analytical purpose." 

The Rockefeller project did not have the time or the money for 
software development or system training, but that may have 
helped them avoid the fate of the other Tunisian computer 
installations. Just as the tightness of funds had proved the inspira- 
tion behind the Powersharing tapes, it now caused a minirestag- 
ing in North Africa of the original American Apple phenome- 
non — the first users of the machines finding out about each other 
and spreading the word. 

Mock arranged a field trip to Kasserine for the analysts in the 
Office of Planning. "One of the ideas," says Mock, "was to set 
up a sort of informal user group, at least so they could help each 
other with repairs or lend each other equipment. You can't buy 
equipment in-country; whatever you budgeted for to begin with, 
that's what you were stuck with. And we had a very small budget. 

"We had the technician in charge of the Kasserine machine 
show us all that he knew. We spent a couple of days down there; 
a really inexpensive way of getting hands-on experience. Once 
they saw how to operate it physically, they were able to figure out 
most of the rest. Some of them didn't speak English and there 
were no materials in French at the time, but they were still able to 
figure it out. It was like a game; it really did seduce them into sit- 
ting down and doing a higher grade of work. There was this in- 
credible, active, energetic interest in this— almost to the point of 
competition— that I'd never seen before." 

"Their original ambitions were quite limited," recalls Mann. 
"They foresaw principally converting existing pencil and paper 
spreadsheet work to mechanized processes. In fact, what has hap- 
pened is that the computer has stretched their analytical ambitions. 

"For example, as Ben Amar began to work with VisiCalc, it 
occurred to him that he could use the row and column framework 
to list all the [Sixth Five- Year] Plan's nonqualified objectives. 
He has a column for each year within the period, in which he can 
briefly summarize progress toward the objective of each row. On 
this one sheet, he said, T can see what is happening with the 
whole Plan. It's fantastic; with the computer you can do anything 
. . . anything^" 

Chris Mock's work was inspired partly by the activities of in- 
ternational groups like CIMMYT, the international wheat and 
corn agricultural research group in Mexico, which has developed 
its own software for various analytical purposes. 

' 'That was one of the reasons we thought it would be good to 



have the Apples in the Ministry," says Mock. "They could share 
by mail with the other organizations, sort of like an international 
user group. If they could see that people who were in the same 
professional area were using the machines for certain purposes, 
they would do likewise. And they would have access to a base of 
custom software." 

The office workers, whose educational levels ranged from 
high school to master's degrees, also quickly grasped the fact that 
microcomputer literacy was a means of career advancement and a 
fast ticket out of the traditionally structured Tunisian social 
system, wherein one's career mobility is generally restricted to 
the highest educational degree one is able to achieve. 

Harvest Time. Charles Mann returned to Tunisia last Febru- 
ary, some two years after the Ministry of Agriculture got its com- 
puters, and was impressed all over again at what two little Apples 
could do. They had expanded to ten, and the entire professional 
staff at the Ministry planning office is now able to use them. 
Everyone was producing better work, and more of it. 

"Both morale and analytical self-confidence are extremely 
high," he reports. "They now routinely undertake analytical 
tasks they never would have attempted two years ago. In par- 
ticular, the computers have facilitated their forward planning by 
allowing them to project food consumption and supply estimates 
through the year 2000. Having this model in a VisiCalc frame- 
work has allowed them to engage in a dialogue with the minister 
on the implications of changing various policies affecting the pro- 
jections. In particular, the extreme grain production shortfall pro- 
jected by the year 2000 has created a new sense of urgency to im- 
prove the production system. 

"Directly and indirectly, the computers have improved 
significantly the analytical capacity of the Office of Planning in 
ways that should help Tunisia produce more food, the project's 
ultimate objective." 

The Never-Ending Story. As Socrates commented two thou- 
sand years ago, "Nobody is qualified to become a statesman who 
is entirely ignorant of the problem of wheat." 

The problem that the Apples in Tunisia are working on is per- 
haps the basic problem we have— the one that must be solved first 
if we are to go on to deal effectively with any other. There is 
no greater economic burden, no deadlier destroyer of families 
and cultures, and no more effective destabilizer of governments 
than hunger. 

The problem does not respond to emergency measures but to 
those that address the problem at its root. Organizations like AID 
and the World Bank are pressing African nations to effect the 
policy changes and land reform necessary to turn their declining 
food production around. To its credit, as the primary economic 
power in the world, the United States has now mounted a five- 
year "economic policy initiative" for Africa, but the administra- 
tion is also contemplating budget cuts for the International Fund 
for Agricultural Development, UNICEF, and the International 
Development Association, traditional support organizations for 
the poorest farmers and rural families. 

The official response is never enough. It's the dedication and 
resourcefulness of individuals that have always been the essential 
ingredients, the things that have made the difference. When the 
microcomputer came to be, it brought its gift of power to us like 
Prometheus bringing the secret of fire. It is through the work of 
such people as Charles Mann, Chris Mock, and Badr Ben Amar, 
in the service of such a cause, that the best and most human prom- 
ise of that power is now being realized. 31 



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ELEPHANT NEVER 
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124 



mum 



MAY 1984 



- 




APPLES 
IN 

CANADA 




A Nation of Programmers 



VI DOH OW(ER 



The story goes that the original edible Mcintosh apple was 
discovered in a lonely corner of a southern Ontario farm. The 
gnarled little tree didn't look like much, but the fruit was bred to 
be a perfect eating blend of sweet and tart. The tough Mcintosh 
red loves the bracing northern climate and today flourishes coast 
to coast in Canadian orchards. 

The executives at Apple Canada would like the Mcintosh 
story to become more than symbolic, and their dream may be 
realized if current trends continue. Consider the following: Since 
opening in 1980, Apple Canada hasn't had a year with a growth 
rate under 80 percent. Last year, the company's sales to Ontario 
school boards doubled. 

Apple has always been strongest in the western provinces. In 
the Rocky Mountain province of Alberta it sets the microcom- 
puter standard for the entire school system. Last year, Apple 
Canada exceeded both its parent company's sales rate and the 
overall market rate. 

The local branch may have the edge in percentages, but the 
Canadian cultural and economic climate poses some problems for 
establishing a healthy computer manufacturing industry here. 

Canada is still a frontier in several senses. Socially and geo- 
graphically, large tracts of Canadian territory remain undevel- 
oped. Furthermore, Canadian industry is not quite ready for 
robotics, and offices are still visibly shaken by the introduction of 
white-collar automation. However, Canadians are forever chal- 
lenged by their pioneer situation, and the challenge has produced 
much excellence, notably in the realm of high technology. 

Canadians are known to be technically sophisticated people. 
Influenced by, yet recognizably distinct from, their neighbor 
Americans, Canadians sometimes seem obsessed with self- 
criticism. They relish debugging everything from the country's 
constitution to the National Hockey League. Obviously then, 
Canada is a potential "nation of programmers" and software ap- 
plications specialists. And the Apple has taken root and bloomed 
here, in applications ranging from medical research to farming in 
the vast Canadian countryside. 



Apple Computer's involvement in Canada has managed to 
change the country in one small way. Canadians have come to 
hate the second-fiddle industry image they've earned. The coun- 
try's semifree, semiprotected market history has made it prime 
branch plant territory. Companies coming into the country to set 
up shop must consider manufacturing. Apple Canada came along 
and said, "We'd like to break that mold. Canada can't support an 
economical computer manufacturing industry. Marketing and 
development of software are the way to go." 

"In Canada we're a little more conservative and the equip- 
ment tends to be more expensive," according to Kevin Ford, a 
mechanical engineer and proprietor of Hydroford, a company 
depending heavily on Apple. "On the other hand, labor rates are 
higher and there is a different work ethic here. The net effect is 
lower productivity." 

Ironically, it's that lower productivity coupled with a relative- 
ly small marketplace that seemed to indicate that Apple had found 
an ideal manufacturing home in this country. However, as Apple 
representative Bill Holtzman explains, the microcomputer busi- 
ness is not your typical smokestack industry. If the new $20-mil- 
lion Mac plant in Fremont, California, can ship half a million 
Macintoshes with a work force of 270, the economics of building 
another North American factory in Canada is questionable. 

When Apple Canada was established, commitments were 
made to the Canadian federal government's Foreign Investment 
Review Agency (FIRA) to build microcomputers in Canada. But 
David Killins, soon to be president of Apple Canada, and his 
associates persuaded FIRA to consider the jobs created by 
marketing and outside software development firms. 

According to Killins, the smokestack mentality that focuses 
on manufacturing is obsolete. Instead, Apple Canada is building a 
fifty-five-thousand-square-foot support center housing offices 
and warehouse facilities near Toronto. Occupancy of the 
$5-million center in Markham— Toronto's Silicon Valley— is 
scheduled for July. 

The Turtle Always Wins. An impressive example of outside 
software encouragement is Apple Canada's special relationship 
with Logo Computer Systems (LCSI). In 1981 a group of Cana- 
dians—entrepreneur Guy Montpetit, programmer Brian Silver- 
man, and marketing expert Jim Baroux— met with Seymour Pap- 
ert in a Montreal kitchen to form LCSI. Because the early Krell, 
Terrapin, and Texas Instruments versions of the language didn't 
satisfy the developers, they decided to produce a Logo that wasn't 
just good but excellent. Their eyes were on the Apple as the best 
available vehicle. 

Apple Computer was equally impressed with the new Logo 
enthusiasts, and an unprecedented contract was signed with the 
company. Apple agreed to sell the program under its own label. 
Apple Logo won the best microcomputer software of the year 
award in 1981 from the Learning Periodicals publishing group of 
the United States. Earlier this year the Federation of Quebec 
Chambers of Commerce awarded its prestigious Mercure prize to 
Montreal-based LCSI for exceptional performance in exporting 
Quebec products outside Canada. When Apple Computer donated 
microcomputers to 9,250 California schools in its Kids Can't 
Wait program, the chosen programming language was LCSI's 
Apple Logo. 

The LCSI success story may be Canadian in origin, but it's in- 
ternational in scope. Reflecting the bicultural nature of Canadian 
life, LCSI produces Apple Logo in French as well as English. 
The company also has more than sixty employees, carries on 



research in Paris, France, as well as in Quebec, and has business 
offices in New York and Tokyo. 

Wizard in a Blizzard. "Canada has always been a leader in 
computer communications," says Kevin Ford, an engineer who 
saves hours of machine time and vital weeks of turnaround by 
sending energy-use statistics to Waterloo University in one shot. 
He calculates his own aggregations and metric conversions on his 
Apple He, then sends only the results to Waterloo. 

"The biggest practical applications for microcomputers will 
appear when they start talking to mainframes. I don't mean sim- 
ple terminal functions either. What needs to be designed are 
specific programs to meet the needs and quirks of specific in- 
dividuals. Then when he has something to send off or take from 
the mainframe, the user can work it up on his VisiCalc, do his 
calculations or his extractions, and discretely use the big machine 
only when he must." 

Even now, the mighty micro can do things a mainframe can't. 
Ford once had a contract with a firm in Frobisher Bay, a remote 
Arctic port where the initial cost of almost anything shipped is 
dwarfed by the transportation rates. Understandably, in Fro- 
bisher, inventory control is a priority. 

When Ford was contacted, the firm was running its asset- 
management system through a terminal link with the south. Un- 
fortunately, bad weather shuts down microwave transmissions a 
good portion of the time— a major fact of Arctic life. Ford found 
that the versatile Apple readily accepted the mainframe inventory 
program. Now, Frobisher only has to send out its orders. 

Muscle for Keeping House. Because it was there first, Apple 
has a lot of friends in the science and medical research com- 
munities. Dr. G.W. Main wood of Ottawa University's medical 
faculty is researching the energetics of muscles; keeping sets of 
complex statistics is important to his work. His Apple helps him 
trace energy sources, limits to muscle capacity, factors in the 
maintenance of muscle power, and so on. This is what he ex- 
pected from the Apple. 




A well-walked trail cuts around a thicket of birch trees in Canada. France's 
colonization of the country wasn't very successful, but French explorers 
managed to penetrate beyond the Great Lakes to the western prairies by 
the end of the seventeenth century. 

What came with it as an unexpected surprise was the bonus of 
the Apple's versatility. Mainwood's microcomputer has become 
an all-around laboratory housekeeper, tracing supplies, accounts, 
and schedules. The Apple gives him access to experimental litera- 
ture through international databases. Word processing and file 
organizing programs help him write papers for journals and tests 
for his students. 

Mainwood's Apple also frees him for research into the critical 
questions of muscle fatigue. His research may help uncover the 
causes of and help treat muscular dystrophy. As a solid scientific 
tool and a general-purpose computer, Mainwood believes the Ap- 
ple is the best for the money. 

The Apple Pulls the Plow. As a terminal emulator, the Apple 
gives farmers access to crucial market data on various videotex 




A trio of Morgan horses stretch their legs on a Morgan horse farm. Apples are very popular with Canadian farmers and ranchers. Software is plentiful 
and service is nearby. 



126 



MAY 1984 



Zigzagging highway takes travelers up into the northern Rocky Mountains 
of British Columbia. The highest point in Canada is Mount Logan (19,850 
feet), in the neighboring province of Yukon. 

systems. Canadian farmers have to stay on top of the facts in or- 
der to stay in business because land, machinery, and capital are 
available only at premium rates. The farmgate (price asked for 
goods at the farm site) price on crops and livestock can vary 
gready, so it comes as no surprise that at every major Canadian 
farm show there is a computer display. 

Canadian farmers, used to buying tractors and milking ma- 
chines, find it hard to think of buying a microcomputer in the 
same way. As they begin to see what software can do for a farm's 
productivity, their way of thinking begins to change. 

"The Apple is a thousand dollars cheaper than any other 
system with suitable farm software. It's versatile and has pio- 
neered dozens of applications, with hundreds of useful programs 
in the public domain," says Betty Vandenbosch, who, along with 
her husband Stan, owns a cattle farm near Winchester in eastern 
Ontario. Stan is also chairman of the Agracomp Computer User 
Group. 

"There's always an available dealer, and the home applica- 
tions are entertaining and useful," she adds. She sells and serv- 
ices Apple products herself. "The software that attracts farmers 
most are accounting packages and enterprise analysis disks." In 
their operation, the Vandenbosches keep track of fertilizer ap- 
plications, crop rotations, yields, and soil tests. "I know a hog 
farmer who monitors his two hundred and fifty sows, their 
breeding data, litter size, and health profiles with an Apple and 
compatible software." 



Garage In, Garage Out. Gary Little, a Vancouver lawyer, 
represents the more typical Canadian user. Little is "the kind of 
home user who brings his micro in through the garage," as Bill 
Holtzman of Apple Canada puts it. 

His Apple lie edits text, acts as a teletypewriter, and accesses 
legal databases. Little expects it soon to handle his accounting 
functions. He also uses the machine for hobby programming and 
as a home security monitor. Belonging to several user groups, in- 
cluding Apple BC Computer Society and the Vancouver PC 
Users Group, Little sees membership as an opportunity to meet 
interesting people and to find answers to puzzling questions. 

Well, maybe Little isn't so typical after all. He's written a 
book titled Inside the Apple lie, to be published this year by 
Brady, and helps organize the annual Pacific Coast Computer Fair. 

Scientists at the National Research Council of Canada may ac- 
tually be more typical Apple users than Little, if typical for the 
Apple means innovative. For example, their electrical engineer- 
ing group has an Apple linked with a microscope to provide im- 
age analysis with the help of a digitizing pad (soon to be replaced 
with a Micron Eye). 

Similarly, Betty Dion of the Canadian Hearing Society reports 
of new opportunities for the deaf who, thanks to Apple technol- 
ogy, can use the telephone for the first time. 

Can't Stop the Micro. Canadian educators viewed the Apple 
with enthusiasm when it first appeared. The excitement has since 
deepened to a commitment in some cases and cooled off in others. 
Two local issues have determined the direction in which Cana- 
dian computer education leans: focus and compatibility. 

Focus means the way a classroom computer is used. If the 
educational aim of the province, school board, school, or teacher 
is computer literacy, then any computer will do. Their emphasis 
is on electronic data processing history, binary language, and 
simple programming. This approach is favored by the Hamilton, 
Ontario, Board of Education. In Hamilton, Apples are disappear- 
ing, being replaced by Commodores. 

Over at the Carleton Board of Education in Ottawa, things are 
different. Carleton is known as a pro- Apple school board. "The 
kind of programming we can run on the Apple presents a huge va- 
riety of options," says Terry Chalmers, a school-board consult- 
ant in Ottawa. "The educational material is superior in presenta- 
tion on Apple software. We say, let the student use the computer. 
He will acquire the literacy he needs." 

Even on a pro- Apple school board like Carleton' s, there's a 
long way to go. Current pupil-to-machine ratios offer the student 
an allotment of nine minutes a week. The microcomputer budget 
was slashed in half this year. However, an enthusiastic teacher 
who wants to do something valuable has access to pilot develop- 
ment money. Schools in the district also run fund-raising drives 
to purchase more hardware and software. 

Software development, not manufacturing, is what makes 
the Apple tick in Canada. Apple Canada is aware of this and, just 
as at Apple in Cupertino, encourages third-party software 
development. 

This attitude has made all the difference. As Karl Parks, a 
software dealer, explains, "We carry more than twenty-two hun- 
dred Apple titles in our software catalog. Apple software is imag- 
inative, intriguing, and full of content. Loading is always straight- 
forward and operation doesn't intrude on your concentration. 

"I think that's what Canadians want from their microcom- 
puters." 

Apple Canada is betting that it is. ^ 



The word is out on 
word processors. 
Format-II ranked number 



We've always thought of Format-II 
as the finest, easiest to use word 
processor for Apple® II + , lie and 
Franklin® computers. We're pleased 
that Peelings II magazine agrees. 
They judged Format-II best out of 18 
leading word processors. Here's why: 
Format-II makes editing easy. 
There's our unique editing process: 
simple, mnemonic commands log- 
ically relate to the task you want to 
perform. To center text, you press 
0. To delete, 0. To justify EL 

And since what you see on 
the monitor is exactly what will 
print out, editing and formatting is 
always a breeze. 

The Peelings II reviewer said, 
"Format-II is one of the few word 
processors that is so comfortable 
and predictable, I would con- 
sider it as an addition to my small 
library of personal software. " 




Peelings II Magazine Rating 


FORMAT-II 


1 


owJtibJBiJV VVJcvl 1 JBirl 11 




PIE WRITER™ 


3 


WRITE AWAY™ 


4 


LETTER PERFECT 5™ 


5 


WORDSTAR™ 


6 


MEGAWRITER ™ 


7 


APPLE WRITER II™ 


8 


PERFECT WRITER™ 


9 


CORRESPONDENT ™ 


10 


SPELLBINDER™ 


11 


MAGIC WINDOW II™ 


12 


ZARDAX™ 


13 


SUPERTEXT 40/80™ 


14 


GUTENBERG ™ 


15 


WORD HANDLER™ 


16 


SELECT™ 


17 


SANDY™ 


18 


Reviewed by John Martellaio, September 1983, 
based on Peelings II rating system for performance 
and performance to price ratio. 


w— reviewer sum it u 



In the words of the Peelings II 
reviewer: "This is the best program I 
have seen for people who do a lot of 
work with mailing lists, form letters 
and short correspondence. " 
An easy to follow manual. 
Essential to any good program is a 
manual that's clear and under- 
standable. The Peelings II reviewer 
describes the Format II manual. 
"All in all, it is one of the best word 
processor manuals I have seen. 
The latest documentation is a 
model of clarity and organization. " 

Put it all together. Then add 
features such as support of hard 
disk drives and a standard DOS 
text file format compatible with 
spellers and communications pro- 
grams, and it's not hard to see why 
Format-II has earned the number 
one rating. 

The words of the Peelings II 
J cannot think of another word pro- 
cessor that would be better overall for business use. " 

Thanks Peelings II. We couldn't have said it better 
ourselves. 

For a reprint of the full review or to order Format-II, 
fill out coupon and send it to: Kensington Microware, Ltd. 
251 Park Avenue South, NYC, NY 10010 or call us at (212) 475-5200. 
Tlx: 467383 KML NY Or visit your local Apple dealer. 



Please send (indicate quantity): 

Free reprint(s) of Peelings n review 

Format-II Word Processing Program(s) $150 each. Total $_ 

Apple II + owners require keyboard mod $5 each. Total $_ 

On purchases add $2.50 shipping and handling 



Format-II supports all printers. 

Unlike other word processors, Format-II is compatible with 
every printer that works with the Apple, from the 
simplest dot matrix printer to the most advanced letter 
quality printer. 

A built in mailing list at no extra cost! 

Actually a database system resembling an index card file. 
A SORTING program will arrange the mailing list alpha- 
betically or numerically. Powerful LOGIC commands 
merge specific entries into form letters and documents. 



New York State residents add applicable sales tax. 
□ Check enclosed □ Visa □ Mastercard 



Total order $_ 



Card No. 



Expires 



Name on Card 



Name 



Address (UPS delivery) 



City 

Kensington Microware, Ltd. 
251 Park Avenue South 
New York, NY 10010 



State 



Zip 



Phone 



>J KENSINGTON 
I MICROWARE 



© 1983 Kensington Microware Ltd. 

Format-II is a registered trademark of Kensington Microware Ltd 
Peelings II is a registered trademark of Peelings II , Inc 
Format-II requires 64 K and an 30 column card. 





THE GRAPHIC SOLUTION 




Solve your toughest communication problems with the 
Graphic Solution™, a sophisticated, new graphics package 
from Accent Software. 

With precise, multi-speed 
ANIMATION create captivating sales 
presentations and product demon- 
strations that will both intrigue and 
inform your clients and customers. 
Watch their reactions; you'll see your 
messages getting through. 

Develop educational materials 
and training aids that MIX TEXT AND GRAPHICS on 
the screen, breathing new life into abstract, hard-to-grasp 
concepts. Mix programs too. 
Images can be displayed on back- 
grounds loaded from any of your 
other programs. Construct custom 
TYPEFACES AND TYPESIZES to 
balance the visual elements. 

Tired of run-of-the-mill business 
graphics? Change standard charts 
and graphs into colorful THREE DIMENSIONAL 
PERSPECTIVES. Add text and animate the data to show the 




COmPRESSIO 
PDUER 
EXHRU5T 

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relative rates of change for your most important information. 
Like cash flow projections. Or revenue estimates. 

Plot flowcharts, time and motion 
studies, industrial process flows with 
COLOR-CODED ELEMENTS high- 
lighting critical paths. Animate the 
sequences to show how flows actually 
progress. 

Work with live action? Prepare 
film and videotape storyboards using 
the unique FRAME -BY-FRAME graphic sequencer that 
lets you create and animate a video story before shooting. 

Whatever your graphic communication demands— in the 
business world, the arts, industry, 
education— The Graphic Solution™ 
at $149. 95 has the answer. Take a 
hard look at The Graphic Solution. 
You'll like what you see. 

The Graphic Solution requires a 
64K Apple II with ROM Applesoft 
and DOS 3.3. 
See your local dealer or 
send $10.00 for a demonstration diskette to: 




ACCENT SOFTWARE, INC. 

4546 El Camino Real, Los Altos, CA 94022 (415) 949-271 1 



Apple is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. 



Unless otherwise noted, all products can be assumed to run on either Apple II, 
II Plus, or He with 48K, Applesoft in ROM, and one disk drive. The requirement 
for Applesoft in ROM can be met by Applesoft in a language card. Many Apple II 
programs will run on the Apple III in the emulation mode. 

If the cryptic initials at the ends of reviews don 't fit the staff listed on page 4, 
then they refer to guest reviewers. This month, they are Cary Hara, Joel Harrod, 
Kevin J. Linden, and Willard Phillips. 

TURBO PASCAL. When you hear that this CP/M Pascal compiler sells for 
fifty bucks, you might be pretty skeptical. Sure it's cheap; it's probably 
a watered-down where's-the-beef compiler with more bugs in it than a 
tropical forest. Maybe some dumb fool who doesn't want to dish out 
$300 or more for a "real" compiler would spend money on it, but that's 
about it. Wrong. 

Not only is Turbo Pascal a complete standard Pascal, it's an im- 
proved, beefed-up version with features that'll have Pascal programmers 
dancing in the streets. Here are a few. 

Strings have been added as a data type and can be manipulated easily 
by several handy built-in string functions and procedures. The functions 
and procedures are basically the same as those in UCSD Pascal, plus the 
procedure val for converting strings to numbers (reals or integers). 



Typed constants are new and extremely useful. They are defined just 
like untyped constants, but the type of the constant must be included 
along with its value. Since typed constants are essentially predefined 
variables, they may be used exactly the same as an unassignable variable 
of the same type. However, they can't be used to define other constants 
or types, because typed constants are considered variables. Which brings 
to mind the free format of the var, const, and type declarations. Declara- 
tions can be in any order or mixed with each other without any ill effects. 

Apart from additions, the only significant difference from standard or 
UCSD Pascal is the absence of the put and get functions; to compensate, 
the read and write statements have been changed to handle all types of 
files instead of just text files. Essentially anything you can do with stan- 
dard Pascal you can do with Turbo Pascal and then some. 

Describing Turbo Pascal as fast doesn't do it justice. Its compilations 
are lightning-fast; no more waiting for those dots to scroll across the 
screen. The compiler gives you the choice of compiling code into memo- 
ry, into executable COM files (with the same name as the source code 
file except with a .COM tacked on), or into CHN files, which are smaller 
than the COM files, but lack the Pascal library and must be activated 
through the chain command from another Turbo Pascal program. 

Of the three options, compiling to memory is by far the fastest, 



w & msmtt 





BASIC BUILDING BLOCKS™ lets us interact 
with our computer and learn at our 
own pace. Dad says it's so easy to use, 
it even eliminates the need for him to 
read the manual. You should see all the 
programs Mom has written by herself. 
I like it because it really gets into the 
fun of the computer. . .fast. BASIC 
BUILDING BLOCKS is like having personal 
computer experts in our house/' 



My 
Mom 



AN INTERACTIVE BASIC TUTORIAL 

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- BASIC commands fully demon- 
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• Over 60 sample programs exe- 
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commands work, learn program 
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« innovative program design for 
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\ «ou test sample programs at 
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• Actually encourages you to write 
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> Design usefui programs, trace 
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soon for IBM PC, XT and PCjr. 



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MAY 1984 



131 



because it doesn't require as much disk access (none if the source code is 
already in memory); but either of the other two options compiles so 
quickly that it'll make you wonder whether the program compiled cor- 
recdy (don't worry, it really did). 

Here's one for Ripley: Turbo Pascal even includes a resident text 
editor that contains features such as block moves, search, replace, and 
block deletions. Its design and commands are similar to those of Word- 
Star, if the editing keys throw you off, you can redefine them to suit your 
taste. Some WordStar functions have also been removed to conserve 
space, but what's left is more than powerful enough to write programs. If 
you decide to use some other CP/M text editor, the compiler will work 
just fine with the file it creates, but it's much simpler to use Turbo 
Pascal's editor, since it forms an integrated package with the compiler 
and system's menu. 

Rivaling Turbo's compilation speed is its execution speed. Again 
there's no comparison to Apple Pascal. If a run-time error occurs during 
execution, and your source code is still in memory, Turbo Pascal 
automatically enters the editor, marks where the error occurred, and 
displays the run-time error code. 

It doesn't really make much sense. A complete Pascal system that in- 
cludes an editor and compiler that reside completely in memory and re- 
quire no disk swapping and that compile and execute extremely fast, all 
for a ridiculously low price. The manual is excellent as a reference man- 
ual and clearly describes all the differences between Turbo Pascal and 
standard Pascal. A licensing fee for programs created with Turbo Pascal 
has been waived, so there are no hidden costs to jump out on you. 

If you don't have CP/M, Turbo Pascal is reason enough to buy it. 
Borland International has created an extremely high-quality product at a 
more than reasonable price. (II 
Turbo Pascal, Borland International (4807 Scotts Valley Drive, Scotts Valley, CA 
95066; 408-438-8400). Requires CP/M. $49.95. 

THE HEIST. By Mike Livesay and Mike Mooney. The folks who brought 
Miner 2049er to the Apple are at it again. It would be unfair to ask any 
encore to measure up to an original like Miner, as no sequel can carry the 



excitement and surprise value inherent in a hit the first time around. No 
Marx Brothers fan would rank A Day at the Races with A Night at the 
Opera, but most would acknowledge its superiority to nine-tenths of the 
competition (say, Olsen and Johnson and the Three Stooges). So it is 
with The Heist. And just as the real world seemed to overwhelm the 
anarchy of the Marxes in time, the surreal cartoon slapstick of Miner has 
here given way to the mundane walls and floors of an art museum, from 
which a perfectly proportioned humanoid must steal all the artworks. 

Mind you, this is no art museum you're ever likely to visit of a Sun- 
day. Robot drones patrol sectors; booby traps appear out of the floor or 
plummet from the ceiling. There's a real trick to jumping over the 
alarms, and it's not likely you'll make it every time. Much coordination 
and more patience is what the game requires, and you'll probably forget 
the ostensible "goal" early on and just try to get through the forty-eight 
rooms on level one, never mind being allowed to move up to the next 
two levels. 

The influence of Miner is evident throughout the game, which is full 
of moving ledges, lifts, escalators, and elevators. Nice touches like the 
do-it-yourself joystick calibrating menu are back. 

If only . . . there were more to it. The near-infinite combinations of 
floors/levels/screens do not obscure the fact that this is a one-trick game: 
knowing how to jump and where. Miner's real variety was not in its 
famous ten screens but in the diversity of skills required— Pac-Man and 
Donkey Kong were prerequisites; timing was all; everything was inter- 
twined. With The Heist, you can get a new screen every five seconds, but 
there isn't a heck of a lot to do in most of them. 

Nevertheless, what's there is more challenging, better executed, and 
more pleasing to the eye than is the case with nine-tenths of the competi- 
tion. Don't expect Miner, and your pleasure should be major. AC 
The Heist, by Mike Livesay and Mike Mooney, Micro Lab (2699 Skokie Valley 
Road, Highland Park, IL 60035; 312-433-7550). Joystick required. $40. 

MASTER DIACHOSTKS II & 11+ and MASTER DIACHOSTKS HE. By Dr. 

Nicholas A. Romano. Master Diagnostics takes an otherwise boring 
task, adds a touch of panache, and makes it rather interesting. The utility 



iSSffl) Un'lPrint Built for Apple owners 
that demand quality and features on a budget! 

When you're trying to find the right parallel interface for your printer, look to Videx to bring you 
the best in quality and features. At only $89.00 suggested retail, the UniPrint is packed with 
features: 



• Full Basic, Pascal , ProDOS, and CP/M compatibility. 

• Text and High Resolution Graphics transfers. 

• Logo graphics transfers! 

• Color graphics transfers to the Dataproducts (IDS) Prism. 

• Centronics— Compatible Cable included. 

• Comprehensive 48 page manual includes easy installation 
and operating instructions, and configurations for over 25 
different printers. 



Parallel Printer Interface 




Suggested Retail Price 

$89.00 



UniPrint ... A simple solution to your printer interfacing needs! 

UniPrint is easy to install and use. And Videx' customer support lets you 
buy UniPrint with confidence! We've taken the guessing out of shopping for 
a full featured card. 



UniPrint is a trademark of Videx, Inc. 

Apple and ProDOS are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. 

CP/M is a trademark of Digital Research, Inc. 

Prism is a trademark of Dataproducts, Inc. 



Videx 

1105 N.E. Circle Blvd. • Corvallis 
503-758-0521 



OR • 97330 



Apple 
II 



CP/M 




SPECTRUM 



Professional Software Products 



MATHEMATICS SERIES 



The Series Includes These 4 Programs: 

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS I: This menu driven program 
performs LINEAR REGRESSION analysis, deter- 
mines the mean, standard deviation and plots the 
frequency distribution of user-supplied data sets. 

NUMERICAL ANALYSIS: HI-RES 2-Dimensional plot of 
any function. Automatic scaling. At your option, 
the program will plot the function, plot the 
INTEGRAL, plot the DERIVATIVE, determine the 
ROOTS, MAXIMA, MINIMA and INTEGRAL VALUE. 

MATRIX: A general purpose, menu driven program 
for determining the INVERSE and DETERMINANT of 
any matrix, as well as the SOLUTION to any set of 
SIMULTANEOUS LINEAR EQUATIONS. 

3-D SURFACE PLOTTER: Explore the ELEGANCE and 
BEAUTY of MATHEMATICS by creating HI-RES 
PLOTS of 3-dimensional surfaces from any 3- 
variable equations. Hidden line or transparent 
plotting. 

For APPLE II (48K) and IBM PC (64K) $50.00 




BUSINESS SOFTWARE SERIES 



Both Programs $250.00 

A user-friendly yet comprehensive double-entry 
accounting system employing screen-oriented 
data input forms, extensive error-trapping, data 
validation and special routines for high speed 
operation. The series includes these two modules: 

GENERAL LEDGER: A complete accounting system 
with these features: 

• Up to 500 accounts and 500 transactions per 
month. 

• Interactive on-screen transaction journal. 

• Produces these reports: 

Transactions Journal 
Account Ledgers 
Income Statement 

For APPLE II and IBM PC $150.00 

ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE 



Balance Sheet 
Account Listings 



A flexible system with these features 

• Up to 500 accounts and up to 500 invoices per 
diskette. 

• Prints invoices, customer statements & 
address labels. 

• Interfaces to General Ledger. 

• Interactive screen-based invoice work sheet. 

• Produces these reports 

Aged Receivables 
Sales Analysis 
Account Listings 
Customer Balances 

For APPLE II and IBM PC .... (2 DRIVES) .. $150.00 



MICRO-LOGIC 



An interactive graphics program for designing and 
simulating digital logic systems. Using the built-in 
graphics module, the user creates a logic diagram 
consisting of AND, OR, NAND, NOR, EX-OR, D, T, JK 
FLIP FLOP and powerful 16pin user-defined MACRO 
functions. A typical page of a logic diagram looks 
like this: 




The system provides on-screen editors for 
NETWORKS/MACROS DATA CHANNELS, CLOCK 
WAVEFORMS and GATES. GATE attributes include 
DELAY, TRUTH TABLE, NAME and I/O clocking. 




The system is available for Apple II and IBM PC 
computers. A non-graphics version is available for 
CP/M 2.2 It uses the network editor to create 
netlists and text printer plots to display simulation 
results. All versions require 2- 5 1/4" disk drives. 

For APPLE II, IBM PC (192K) and CP/M (70K) $450.00 
MANUAL & DEMO DISKETTE $50 00 

PERSONAL FINANCE MASTER 

The premier personal and small business financial 
system. Covering all types of accounts including 
check registers, savings, money market, loan, 
credit card and other asset or liability accounts, the 
system has these features: 

Handles 25 Asset/Liability Accounts 
Monthly Transaction Reports 
Budgets Income & Expense 
Reconciles to Bank Statements 
Prints Checks & Mailing Labels 
Automatic Year-End Rollover 
Prepares a Net Worth Reports 
Searches for Transactions 
Handles Split Transactions 
User-Friendly Data Entry Forms 
Fast Machine Language Routines 
Extensive Error Trapping 
HI-RES Expense/Income Plots 
For APPLE II and IBM PC $75.00 



MICRO-CAP 



Microcomputer Circuit Analysis Program 

Tired of trial & error circuit design? Analyze and 
debug your designs before you build them. With 
MICRO-CAP you simply sketch your circuit diagram 
on the CRT screen and run an AC, DC orTRANSIENT 
ANALYSIS. Your circuit may consist of RESISTORS, 
CAPACITORS, INDUCTORS, DIODES, BATTERIES, 
BIPOLAR or MOS TRANSISTORS, OPAMPS TRANS- 
FORMERS, and SINSUSOIDAL or USER-DEFINED 
TIME DEPENDENT VOLTAGE SOURCES. MICRO-CAP 
can analyze any such network containing up to 40 
separate nodes. Includes a user controlled MACRO 
library for modelling complex components such as 
OPAMPS and Transistors. 




For APPLE II and IBM PC computers. A non-graphics 
version using an on-screen editor to enter networks 
and text printer plots to display simulation results 
is available for CP/M (2.2- 5 1/4" SSSD) systems 
Requires 2 disk drives. 

For APPLE II, IBM PC (192K) and CP/M (70K) $475.00 
MANUAL and DEMO DISKETTE $50. 

ORDERING INSTRUCTIONS: All programs are supplied 
on disk and run on Apple II (64K) or IBM PC (128K) 
with a single disk drive unless otherwise noted. 
Detailed instructions included. Orders are shipped 
within 5 days. Card users include card number. Add 
$2.50 postage and handling with each order. 
California residents add 6 1/2% sales tax. Foreign 
orders add $5.00 postage and handling per product. 




SPECTRUM 
SOFTWARE 

690 W. Fremont Ave., Suite D 
Sunnyvale, CA 94087 



FOR PHONE ORDERS: 
(408) 738-4387 
DEALER INQUIRIES INVITED. 



MAY 1984 



mum 



133 



also instructs. If the doctor tells you that he's going to remove one of 
your kidneys, you have a right to know why, and if you're prudent you'll 
demand to be told how to prevent the loss of the second one. Within its 
area of expertise (the Apple's hardware), Master Diagnostics instructs 
without duplicating the Apple Reference Manual. 

At each test point during the diagnosis there's an illustration of what 
the monitor will show if a component fails or if it passes. Bad ROMs are 
named, and bad RAM chips are identified by their row and column on 
the motherboard. There's even a glossary of terms for those who don't 
speak computerese. 

In addition to ROMs and RAMs, the program tests ROM cards, par- 
allel cards, the Hayes Micromodem II, video monitor, speaker, paddles, 
disk drive speed and head alignment, and the drive's write-protect 
switch. 

In addition, there's an instruction set on disk head cleaning, IC pin in- 
spection and cleaning, and housing and monitor screen cleaning. If 
you're trying to find that elusive intermittent bug that appears and disap- 
pears without leaving a clue, Master Diagnostics will run an automatic 
test procedure for one to twelve hours, cycling and recycling RAM chips 
until the little pest falls out. 

In cases where it's possible to repair or replace a bad part, clear in- 
structions are given, and the don'ts are explained as explicitly as the dos. 

There's a solid feel to this utility; you'll find yourself using it with a 
sense of security, and when you're finished you feel that it was worth the 
price, even if no problems were discovered. WP 
Master Diagnostics II & 11+ and Master Diagnostics He, by Dr. Nicholas A. 
Romano, Nikrom Technical Products (25 Prospect Street, Leominster, MA 
01453; 617-537-9970). $55. 

SOFTERM 2. Beyond the usual phone lists, macros, and file transfer abil- 
ities, communications programs usually include some form of terminal 
emulation — making the Apple function like a mainframe terminal. In 
most cases it's a standard TTY device or a popular terminal such as the 
DEC VT100, which is usually sufficient. However, to emulate another 
specific terminal, Softerm 2 is a package to consider seriously. 

It's a communications package that provides an extensive list of ter- 
minal emulations, among which are ADDS Regent Models 20, 25, 40, 
60, and Viewpoint; DEC Models VT52, VT100, and D200; Hazeltine 
Models 1400/1410, 1500, and 1520; Honeywell VIP7205, VIP7801, 
and VIP7803; H-P 2622A; IBM 3101-1X and 3101-2X; LSI ADM-3A 
and ADM-5; Televideo 910, 925, and 950. The list is growing, and 
emulations are continually updated and revised as necessary. 

A keyboard enhancer is included to handle various keyboard defini- 
tions of the emulated terminals. It consists of a board that's inserted into 
an open slot inside the Apple, and a three-key keypad connected to it. 
The keys function as shift keys and, when used with the main keyboard, 
allow you to "fake" the function keys supported by Softerm 2. Several 
of the program commands themselves also use the keypad. 

Most of the emulations work satisfactorily; however, for the H-P 
2622A some of the terminal's capabilities aren't included. The line- 
drawing character set is replaced with blanks, some of the terminal con- 
trol functions are ignored, and there's only one page of memory. Half- 
bright intensity and underlining are employed, but their display depends 
on which eighty-column board is being used. The function keys and ter- 
minal status display are emulated but aren't continually shown on the 
screen; instead, they're displayed only after pushing one of the keypad 
combinations, and when they're displayed they cover the bottom two 
lines of the normal display. The emulation is not totally comprehen- 
sive, but it's very functional. The Televideo 910 and Hazeltine 1500 
aren't nearly as smart as the 2622A, but their emulations are much more 
complete. 

Softerm 2 uses three types of protocol for file transfer — character, 
CP/M xmodem, and the Softerm Softrans. Character protocol is the stan- 
dard ASCII text file mode of file transfer; xmodem is an implementation 
of the CP/M User's Group standard protocol, and Softrans is Softerm's 
own protocol written in Fortran 77. Softrans operates in block mode and 
features error recovery, automatic data encoding and decoding, and data 
compression. To use Softrans, you must have it on both the receiving and 
sending computers. Softrans is included on the Softerm disks and can be 
transferred to the host computer using the character protocol. At present, 
however, only a version for the Data General MV/6000 running the 
AOS/VS operating system is included with the package. Versions for the 



H-P, Tandem, and Prime are due soon. In the meantime, the user is 
responsible for implementing the protocol on the host. The source code 
for all of the necessary modules is included along with explanations of 
how to implement it. 

Files can be transferred among DOS, CP/M, and Pascal disk for- 
mats, and they can be edited during transfer to match the data format of 
the host computer. With the use of the macro command capability, the 
whole file transfer process can be fully automated from log-on to log-off, 
including dialing up the host computer with the built-in phone book. 

About service: There's lots of it. A twenty-four-hour modem line 
provides information on any problems users might have experienced 
with the package, solutions to problems, revisions and patches to the 
original package that can be downloaded to the user's disk and applied to 
the program with a utility provided, and general news of interest. 

Because terminal emulations are constantly being added and en- 
hanced, it seems like the manual will always be somewhat out of date. 
New emulations are included in the software but aren't mentioned in the 
manual. However, documentation for new additions is included on 
the disk. 

Softerm 2 is a very good, highly professional package that can meet 
the communications needs of many users, especially those wanting to 
make their Apples look like other terminals to host minis or mainframes. 
Definitely worth the price. IWH 
Softerm 2, Softronics (3639 New Getwell Road, Suite 10, Memphis, TN 38118; 
901-638-6850). $195. 

PERSONAL TAX PLAIMER. That's tax planner, not tax preparer. The dif- 
ference is that this program helps answer what-if tax questions as op- 
posed to calculating amounts for tax forms. 

Though we've survived through April 15, 1984, it's not too late to 
start getting ready for next year. Personal Tax Planner is a program for 
planning strategies that will minimize the taxes you'll pay when Uncle 
Sam holds out his hand. 

Two modes of operation are included. One helps you evaluate up to 
five alternatives that could affect your taxes, and another helps you make 



IN STACKS OF ARTICLES ? 
CONSIDER HIRING A 
LIBRARIAN FOR ONLY 












p] 





Quick Search Librarian (QSL) makes it easy to enter and edit 
your journal references, search for articles, and print or sort a 
list of articles using the 48K APPLE* II + computer. Important 
QSL features include: 

• Two keystrokes select any one of 255 keywords or any one 
of 255 journal titles. 

• Four lines available for listing authors, title and/or comments. 

• Powerful data base screen editing, copying and merging 
features. 

• Average search speed is 50 articles/second with multiple cri- 
teria; average sorting speed is 40 articles/second when sort- 
ing on 3 fields. 

• Typically, 1000 articles can be stored on a single disk. 

• Includes sample data base and tutorial for Scientific American. 
1981. 

VISA or Mastercard orders accepted. QSL manual available sep- 
arately for $5. (Price of manual deductible later with purchase 
of QSL software.) Add $1.50 for shipments made in U.S.A. 

• Trademark of Apple Computer. Inc. 

-fYl- INTERACTIVE MICROWARE, INC. 
H n I P.O. Box 771, Dept. 2 

■ UJ ■ State College, PA 1 6801 , (81 4) 238-8294 



134 



mnin 



MAY 1984 



SWAPPER 
STOPPER 



$26.95 




Automatic Game Port Expander 
for Apple II+ or lie 

The new Swapper Stopper plugs inside your Apple, 
and provides automatic switching between joystick 
and paddles. Simply pick up either joystick or paddles, 
and Swapper Stopper automatically passes control to 
that device. 

Swapper Stopper requires no unsightly externally 
mounted cables or switches, and installs in seconds. 

Swapper Stopper is available from stock. Specify 
version (II+ or Me). 

Dealer inquiries invited. 



A B Computers 



252 Bethlehem Pike 
Colmar, PA 18915 
215-822-7727 



Guaranteed Error-Free Performance 
with Scotch® Diskettes by 3M 




SPECIAL 



,00 

per box of 1 0 

$19.00 

for 5 boxes 

3M double density diskettes with reinforced hub 
ring. Packed in 3M two piece storage box. Add 
$1 .50 for plastic library case with 1 0 diskettes. 
Larger quantity prices available. 

Add $1 .50 per order for continental U.S. UPS surface shipping. 



projections of taxes based on potential transactions for up to five years. 

The program uses a spreadsheet format similar to Multiplan and the 
various calc programs, so it's easy to create alternatives for comparison 
by replicating information with just a few keystrokes. The spreadsheet 
capabilities of the projection mode are especially powerful. For exam- 
ple, married couples can enter separate base-year salaries, a few simple 
codes, and the assumed percentage growth rate (or one salary can in- 
crease by a percent rate while the other increases by a flat rate), and each 
spouse's appropriate salary will automatically appear for each suc- 
ceeding year. 

Personal Tax Planner performs several complicated tax calculations, 
among them income averaging, the alternative minimum tax, two-earner 
married couple deduction, and capital gain deduction. 

Unfortunately, screens don't have enough lines for input with appro- 
priate prompts. For example, instead of having its own line, the prior 
year's state tax refunds must be entered as "other income," while real 
estate taxes, personal property taxes, and sales taxes must be manually 
added and entered as "other taxes." Separate lines for each would be 
helpful, as they would prompt you not to forget certain items. Also, 
more descriptive prompts would be helpful when reviewing the tax 
plan later. 

Entering data can be tricky because the program doesn't automatical- 
ly calculate the deduction for two-earner married couples. Instead, it's 
necessary to calculate (with paper and pencil, adding machine, or 
calculator, but not the program) the deduction and then enter the proper 
amount of qualifying earned income for each person. 

You don't need to know a lot about computers to use this program ef- 
ficiently, but it helps to know something about federal income tax law. 
The value of the program increases with your knowledge of federal taxa- 
tion, as you can better understand what information is required. 

Playing what-if games with taxes helps to avoid year-end surprises, 
such as underpayment penalties and large balances due to the Internal 
Revenue Service. Ill 
Personal Tax Planner, Aardvark/McGraw-Hill (783 North Water Street, 
Milwaukee, WI 53202; 414-289-9988). $99. 

BUC OFF! By Carl Byington. When all typing of code and removing of 
syntax errors is done, rare is the Pascal program that works properly. 

Bug Off! takes some of the drudgery and wasted time out of debugg- 
ing Apple Pascal programs by eliminating much of the unnecessary com- 
piling and source code editing. Once Bug Off! is installed into your pro- 
gram as an intrinsic unit (one or two lines in your source code) no other 
editing of the source code is necessary except for the changes needed to 
fix the bugs in the program. Once the program's completely debugged, 
removing Bug Off! from the source code eliminates the evidence of any 
kind of debugging. 

Running a program with Bug Off! installed puts you immediately into 
a debugging command mode. If you want to ignore debugging complete- 
ly, you may execute the program as if Bug Off! were not even there. You 
may, however, set break points in the program that, when executed, will 
return you to the debugging command mode, where you may then review 
or alter your program's variables. If everything looks hunky-dory, you 
can continue execution or define more break points. 

Don't worry if you defined a break point and want to get rid of it; you 
can easily delete it or simply skip over it. Break points are fantastic, 
allowing you to see variables or change their values without having to 
reedit or recompile the source code. Execution can then continue as if 
nothing had been altered. Once you have located the problem, you can 
step through it one statement at a time, trace through it in large statement 
blocks, or even decide to exit the program completely and fix it. If you 
want to know how the program arrived at its current location, Bug Off! 
can easily display the return path (the procedures that called it). Most of 
these features would be either impossible or a hassle to do the old- 
fashioned way. 

This is only a small subset of the commands and features that make 
Bug Off! easy to use yet extremely powerful. Don't expect to implement 
Bug Off! and immediately start finding all those bugs, though. Like lear- 
ning to use most word processors, it takes a bit of time to discover how 
to get the most out of the commands, but patience will pay off. 

One of the lowlights of Bug Off! is its manual. It's hard to understand 
and lacks the polish and careful detail given to the program. The only 
other irritation is the method of copy protection. Every time you execute 



A B Computers 

215-822-7727 



ANNOUNCING 




in the World. 

Spellcaster is a new computer language that is easier to learn than 
LOGO or BASIC. With Spellcaster you can learn to program your own 
fast-action video games, intricate art designs, interactive courseware, 
and many other applications using graphics, color, movement or sound. 

What makes Spellcaster so easy to learn? 

• Spellcaster is the simplest language on the market. Young children 
use it to draw all over the screen. As they grow, the tutorial entices 
them into true programming. 

• Everything a Spellcaster program does leaves marks on the screen. 
You watch all its inner workings in motion. 

• Spellcaster's on-screen tutorial makes your computer teach you pro- 
gramming. It even teaches you how to program your own video games. 

• Debugging a Spellcaster program is easy, because you can stop it, 
make it back up to the mistake (while you watch), change it, and let it 
run forward again. 

• Spellcaster's manual, The Book of Spells, is light-spirited, color-coded 
and loaded with examples. 



For $39.95 you get 

The Book of Spells (Manual) 

Copyable disk with: 
Spellcaster Language 
Tutorial program 
Video game subprogram library 

One issue of The Spellswappers' Gazette 



1-800-635-0050 

MC/VISA (In VA call 1-703-433-8788) 

At your dealer or direct from: 
Shenandoah Software 
1111 Mt. Clinton Pike 
Harrisonburg, VA 22S01 

For Apple II, II+, He 



The language: Spellcaster was designed from 
scratch to be easy to learn, yet formally complete. Its 
privitives are not numeric operations, but screen 
operations. Each change in state is visible to the 
programmer. Spellcaster is highly structured (nested 
conditions, loops with exit conditions, recursion) but 
the control structures are expressed with radical 
simplicity. "Teleporters" are unique language fea- 



tures that partially save and restore process state to 
permit real-time video game programming. 

The environment: Imagine an editor and an 
interpreter so wed that every keystroke, as it is 
typed, is syntactically checked and executed, so you 
instantly see its effects. If you backspace, the pro- 
gram reconstructs its previous state — even in the 



middle of conditions and loops. 

The tutorial: Keystrokes generated by the tutor- 
ial guide the user, stroke by stroke, through experi- 
ments in programming. The tutorial can generate 
macro's which execute on the spot. The pedogogical 
approach is to have beginners build their own video 
games. 



* On the flip side of the Spellcaster disk is a free issue of The Spellswappers' Gazette, a diskette magazine of readers' games, 
comments and programming know-how. 



Apple is a trademark ot Apple Computer. Inc. 



136 



S O F T A I I 



MAY 1984 




We make 
apples grow! 





\0 



10 1ASUPPO RTS 



THEj^S-OSrAND 




THE INFAX 101 A, 10 MEGABYTES BIG! 

The Infax 101 A disk drive subsystem has been designed 
specifically for Apple* owners interested in added storage. 

The Infax 101 A features a removable 10 megabyte data 
cartridge. Your Apple* can have almost infinite storage 
capacity with the new Infax 101A. 

Look at the features the Infax 101A offers: * Highest 
performance, reliability of any removable disk drive. 

* Lowest cost 10 megabyte (formatted) data cartridge. 

* More resistant to shock and vibration than any other 
fixed or removable disk drive. ★ Fastest start/stop (car- 
tridge replacement) time of any high performance disk 
drive. * Non-contact head to disk interface. * Micro- 
processor-based error correction. + User transparent 
error detection and correction. * Automatic start-up diag- 
nostics, idle drive shutdown, error recovery procedures. 

* Host adapter/controller and software supports up to 4 
drives simultaneously. * Cartridge write protect switch. 

The Infax 101 A comes with disk drive, data cartridge, power supply, cables and 
personal computer adapter. Software included supports Apple" DOS 3.3, Pascal 
and CP/M." Also included are support software for quick copying, backup and 
file management. Slot independent. Supports auto-boot capability. Infax is a 
" "roducts "Apple. Apple III, Apple II ProDOS and 
rks of Apple Computer, Inc. ' "CP/M is a regis- 
arch, Inc. 



For additional information and the name of 
e dealer nearest you call (800) 241-1 119 — 
n Georgia call (404) 981-6778. Or write: 
UFAX, INC., 5301 Covington Highway, 
Decatur, Georgia 30035 





a program with Bug Off! installed, it's necessary to insert the program 
disk for "product verification"; the verification takes almost a full 
minute. 

Besides its debugging features, Bug Off! includes command macros, 
the ability to save groups of commands to be used later, on-line help 
files, and a listing command that lists text files during debugging. (II 
Bug Off!, by Carl Byington, First Byte (2845 Temple Avenue, Long Beach, CA 
90806; 213-595-5716). $49.95. 

THE VISIBLE COMPUTER: 6502. By Charles Anderson. Remember those 
intriguing transparent plastic human models that allowed you to see most 
of the inside workings of the amazing human body? Of course, these 
models didn't instantly teach us to be doctors, but instead gave us some 
general ideas about what's going on inside of our bodies. The Visi- 
ble Computer: 6502 serves the same purpose as those models, letting 
us explore the world of the 6502 assembly language used in the Ap- 
ple computer. 

The Visible Computer: 6502 consists of twenty-four sample programs 
demonstrating how most of the 6502 instructions work. The manual asks 
that the user be familiar with Basic to understand the similarities between 
the two languages, but knowledge of any programming language will do. 
In a conversational manner, the tutorial introduces basic concepts for the 
novice programmer. Later, it teaches how to use JVC's commands. 

Now the real power of TVC becomes evident. JVC allows you to step 
through each individual assembly language instruction while it shows a 
simulation of the 6502 's internal registers. By viewing these registers, 
you can see the effects of each instruction, which may lead to a more 
complete understanding of each instruction. 

The sample programs contained on the disk demonstrate most of the 
6502 's instructions, but they do little more than execute the instruction 
being discussed. A suggestion on the usage of each instruction would 
have been very helpful. The manual briefly explains the execution of 
these sample programs, but if you get confused, you're on your own. 
Even though stepping through the program should reveal the answer to 
your question, the tutorial could be a little more thorough in discussing 
some of the programs. 

After going through each of the sample programs, you're ready to 
start writing some really exciting programs; the only problem is that 
you're done with the tutorial. The disk contains a few larger sample pro- 
grams, but all you can do is read the listings, step through them, and at- 
tempt to understand what's going on. The program has little provision 
for helping the user write programs. It's kind of like trying to learn how 
to swim by reading books and watching films about it, but never actually 
getting into the pool. 

One of TVC's features is its power as a debugging tool. Once you've 
finished the tutorial, bought an assembler, and finally begun to write pro- 
grams, you can use 7VCto step through programs similar to the way old- 
Monitor ROM programmers used the trace and step functions in the pre- 
Autostart ROM days, but with many added features. If you are tired of 
looking at everything in hexadecimal, change the registers to decimal or 
binary numbers. You may also choose which part of memory to view 
during the execution of a program and the speed of the trace. Using these 
powerful features could easily take some of the headaches out of debug- 
ging assembly language programs. 

Watch out, though. TVC provides only IK of user memory. Pro- 
grams can be virtually any size, but if they conflict with memory loca- 
tions of TVC commands, it's bombs away time. 

TVC won't make you an instant 6502 wizard or teach you the greatest 
sorting algorithms ever; instead, it helps you develop the basic concepts 
needed to become a good assembly language programmer by showing 
what goes on inside the machine during a program's execution. (II 
The Visible Computer: 6502, by Charles Anderson, Software Masters (3330 
Hillcroft, Suite BB, Houston, TX 77057; 713-266-5771). $49.95. 

DISKQUIK. By Harry Bruce and Gene Hite. Almost as long as there have 
been memory cards for the Apple, there have been disk drive emulator 
programs. People very often buy extra memory because they need it 
for their spreadsheets or word processors and then discover that, out- 
side of the one program they bought it for, none of their software can use 
it. Even Basic can only get to the memory via extraordinary program- 
ming calisthenics. Such are the perils of putting more than 64K into a 
64K computer. 



Pick a Number Between 
pfs:fi!e and dBASE II .... 

You've outgrown the simple file manager you started with. Perhaps you need more than one disk of data per file, 
or password protection, or greater math and report capabilities. You know what the programmer down the street 
uses, but you still think that "multiple relations" refers to your in-laws, and you're not sure you want to know 
"query language." Besides, if it's so easy to use, why all those expensive seminars, books, and programs to make 
it easier? Don't trade in your computer on a bunch of used file cabinets . . . 

Check out the alternatives . . . 



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NOW YOUR APPLE CAN HOOK 
TO ANY MAINFRAME. 



Apple is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc., 
CP/M is a registered trademark of Digital Research, Inc., 
Dow Jones News/Retrieval is a registered trademark of 
Dow Jones, Inc. The Source is a service mark of 
Source Telecomputing Corporation, 
CompuServe is a registered 
trademark of CompuServe, Inc. 



If you have an Apple II, 
Apple II Plus, or Apple lie, 
we have good news for you. Now 1 
there are two inexpensive software 1 
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Softerm 1 connects you with 
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Softerm 1 lets you retrieve information from 
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Other features include user-defined key- 
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simultaneously to print or disk, copy screen 
to print or disk, and terminal status display. 

Softerm 2 connects you with 
your company's computer. 

This expanded version of Softerm lets you 
gain access to the information stored in 
your company's main computer from your 
home or office. With either version of 
Softerm, you can down load information into 
your Apple and capture it on your own disk 



in any format you choose- DOS, CP/M®, 
or Pascal. Also included with Softerm is a 
source program for your host computer to 
ensure compatibility with Softerm's file 
transfer capabilities. 

Makes your Apple work exactly 
like any major terminal. 

Softerm 2 provides complete emulation of 
these terminals: ADDS Regent 20, 25, 40, 
60; ADDS Viewpoint; Data General D200; 
Datapoint 3601; DEC VT102, VT52; Hazeltine 
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Memphis, TN 38118. (901) 683-6850 



MAY 1984 



son ALK 



139 



Disk drive emulators were invented to fix this problem by providing 
memory cards with something generally useful to do. They convince 
DOS that the extra memory is actually a very fast disk drive, and so al- 
low the user to save programs and other files to the memory card and 
then retrieve them far more quickly than they would be able to do other- 
wise. This function turns out to be very useful when the user creates pro- 
grams that are so large they can't be held in main memory all at once and 
need to be loaded and run in manageable parts. 

The 64K memory bank that comes on the Apple He's Extended 
80-Column Text Card is the one most used, for the simple reasons that 
more people have that card than any other, and it's made by Apple. Nev- 
ertheless, Basic still can't use the extra memory without calling on ma- 
chine language routines for help, and programs that were written before 
the He appeared don't recognize the presence of the extra memory. 

DiskQuik is packed with little programs you can use to customize the 
pseudodisk that DOS thinks is in slot 3. Since there is no physical disk 
drive in slot 3, it has no in use light. DiskQuik solves this by telling you 
when it's reading from or writing to the disk by clicking the speaker re- 
peatedly. If you find this annoying, you can use the menu program to 
shut it off. 

The menu also allows a number of other things. You can protect the 
card's graphics memory area so that DiskQuik doesn't conflict with dou- 
ble-hi-res graphics. You can lock the disk, which has the same effect as 
gutting a write-protect tab on a real disk. DiskQuik disables the DOS ink 
command and replaces it with wipe, a form of init that works only on the 
slot 3 pseudodisk. You can disconnect the pseudodisk to restore the init 
command, and reconnect it later with its files intact. With a single menu 
selection (or by running a program on the DiskQuik master) you can back 
up the entire pseudodisk to a floppy, and with another menu selection (or 
program) you can restore the contents of the floppy to the pseudodisk. 

What distinguishes Beagle's DiskQuik from any other disk drive 
emulator is the same thing that distinguishes all of Beagle's programs. 
It's more than a sense of humor; it's the joy of sharing. That joy comes 
through in the menu programs in Beagle disks, which are easy to use, vis- 
ually interesting, imaginative, and often entertaining. It also comes 
through in their documentation, which goes beyond mere explanations of 
how to use their programs and always includes information you can use 
in other contexts. The Beagles are not only great hobbyist programmers, 
they're also willing to show you their tricks. DD 
DiskQuik, by Harry Bruce and Gene Hite, Beagle Bros (4315 Sierra Vista, San 
Diego, CA 92103; 619-296-6400). $29.50. 

EXPEHSE ACCOUNT MAMACER. While this program can be helpful to em- 
pjrjyees who must account for expenses, it is especially useful to those 
people who, for tax or other record-keeping purposes, need to track their 
expenses on a yearly basis. 

Starting a statement and entering expenses is the electronic equivalent 



of filling out a company expense report. When entering expenses, you're 
given the choice of being prompted for each expense item or entering ex- 
penses individually by their codes. Using codes is faster if only a few ex- 
penses are to be entered, but being prompted helps prevent overlooking 
any stray expenses. 

After a statement has been completed, it's necessary to print it 
(eighty -column printer, please) and check for accuracy. Incorrect entries 
mean having to go back to the main menu and load a module for modify- 
ing and deleting expenses (even if an error is found as soon as it is en- 
tered, you'll have to go back to the main menu to correct it). A data disk 
can accommodate only ten statements. 

If you'd like statement totals transferred to the year-to-date totals, the 
system reorganizes all the expense items into groups called budget lines 
and adds them to expenses from previous statements. Initially, the budg- 
et lines conform to the lines found on IRS Form 2106; again, those can 
be changed to suit individual needs. 

One of the system's strong points is how easily it can be customized. 
When you initialize a data disk, you can choose to have expenses divided 
between clients or projects. Then, every time you enter an expense, the 
system will ask you for a client/project code and will add these subtotals 
to the statement. Private contractors and consultants who charge ex- 
penses to various clients will find this feature invaluable, though it would 
be even more helpful if client coded expenses were also subtotaled on a 
yearly basis. 

Changing the statement groups or the budget lines can be cumber- 
some. Deleting a line to replace it with another moves all lines below it 
up a line, which means the new line will appear at the end instead of 
where the deleted line was. Moreover, expense items don't automatically 
"move up" with the budget lines they were listed under; instead, they 
must be rearranged through the program's Options/Change module. 

Once the budget lines and expenses are arranged, you can enter a 
budget amount for each line. A printout will include the budget amount, 
how much has been spent to date, and the difference or excess. The re- 
port also predicts whether you will be within the budget at year's end. 

In general, Expense Account Manager is easy to use. Most of the 
prompts are set up so that hitting the return key is the same as entering a 
null response; this makes it easy to flip through prompted questions. 
Once you understand the system structure, polite, informative error mes- 
sages and simple dialogue make the manual almost unnecessary. In most 
cases, entering an asterisk is all it takes to save what has been entered and 
return to the previous menu. 

This friendliness, coupled with the system's adaptability, makes it 
easy to overlook its few idiosyncrasies, especially at tax time, when Ex- 
pense Account Manager s clear, detailed records can make the chore of 
recording business deductions as easy as filling in the blanks. KIL 
Expense Account Manager, Adaptive Software (1868 Cavell Avenue, Highland 
Park, IL 60035; 312-831-4420). $150. 



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MAY 1984 



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flUOW THE 



A Stellar Performance 



If you were thoroughly confused by the labels under figure 2 last 
month, there 's a good reason. The labels were thoroughly confusing. All 
references to ULIN were supposed to read VLIN and all of the H coor- 
dinates should have been X coordinates. Our supply of Vs and Xs has 
been replenished and steps have been taken to see that such shortages 
don 't happen again. 

Lo-res graphics are colorful and fun to play with, but let's face it — 
they're blocky. After a short time, that blockiness gets to look childish 
and the appeal begins to wear thin. Fortunately, there is another graphics 
mode that is easily accessible from Applesoft: hi-res. Unless you've con- 
fined your Apple use entirely to spreadsheets, word processors, Infocom 
adventures, and, of course, following that oF floating point, you've prob- 
ably seen hi-res graphics in action in many different guises. 

Hi-res graphics have been used for two-dimensional line drawings, 
three-dimensional line drawings, paintings, logos, charts, arcade games, 
educational games, lower-case lettering and seventy-column text on stan- 
dard Apple II Pluses, and a slew of other things. Unfortunately, many of 
these things can't be done well in Applesoft. Not that Applesoft isn't suf- 
ficiently flexible; it's just not sufficiently fast. Hi-res graphics deal with 
large amounts of memory. 

Same Name, New Initial. Learning the first commands of hi-res 
graphics is simple. The first three commands are close cousins of the 
first three lo-res commands, which are gr, color, and plot. To derive 
their hi-res equivalents, tack an H onto the beginning of each of them and 
you get hgr, hcolor, and hplot. 

As you might guess, hgr gets us into the hi-res mode. Like gr, it 
leaves four lines at the bottom of the screen in text mode, which allows 
us to give hi-res commands in immediate mode and see what they do on 
the screen. There is another way of getting into hi-res graphics: the hgr2 
command. The most obvious difference between hgr and hgr2 is that 
when you use hgr2 it doesn't display four lines of text at the bottom of 
the screen. 

The more obscure difference between the two is that they use dif- 
ferent areas of memory. All of the display modes in the Apple are 
memory-mapped. That means each text character, lo-res block, or hi-res 
dot corresponds exactly to a particular unit of memory. Hgr and hgr2 ac- 
tivate and display two separate pages of hi-res memory. This fact has two 
major implications: Sometimes we will choose to use a page of memory 
based on where it resides in memory. Very long Applesoft programs 
conflict with hi-res page one. However, a program will conflict with hi- 
res page two only if it's more than twice as long as one that conflicts with 
page one. The second implication is that separate pictures can be drawn 
on the two pages. 

The memory conflicts are worth discussing now because they can be- 
come terribly inconvenient when they occur unless you can identify and 
deal with them. There are two possible symptoms: 



1. After turning on hi-res display mode with the hgr command, the 
program crashes in some unusual way. When you list the program, you 
discover that the last few (or several) lines of the program have vanished 
mysteriously. 

2. As you are drawing on the hi-res screen, garbage begins to appear 
in addition to the lines your program is drawing. The garbage first ap- 
pears in the upper left corner of the screen and proceeds in a perfect hori- 
zontal line to the right side of the screen. Other than its orderly progres- 
sion, the garbage looks like random dots — like some kind of Morse code 
notation. When it reaches the right side of the screen, it reappears on the 
left side about a third of the way down. If allowed to continue, it may 
cause the program to behave unpredictably, but it will not damage the 
program code itself. 

The first symptom is caused by the program code's using space in the 
hi-res memory area. Program code begins at decimal address 2048 and 
proceeds to higher addresses as the program gets longer. The first hi-res 
page begins at 8192. The first thing hgr does is clear the screen to black, 
which is accomplished by clearing the hi-res memory area to all zeros. If 
the program goes beyond address 8192, part of the program will be 
cleared to all zeros as well. 

The second symptom is caused not by the program but by its vari- 
ables, conflicting with hi-res memory. Variables start where the program 
ends and build toward higher addresses. Their space is not allocated all at 
once, but one variable at a time as the program encounters them while 
running. 

The easiest solution to either of these problems is to use hi-res page 
two instead of page one by substituting hgr2 commands for all the hgr 
commands in the program. If you absolutely have to have four lines of 
text at the bottom of the screen, there are other solutions, but they aren't 
simple. We'll look at them in the months ahead, when we talk about ma- 
chine language with Applesoft and memory use. 

A Coordinated Attack. Let's get back to hgr, hcolor, and hplot. 
These commands are seen most easily by typing them from the key- 
board. Here's a quick tour: 

HGR 

When you typed this, most or all of the screen turned black. It may 
have looked like Venetian blinds closing. If the cursor was near the top 
of the screen, it seemed to disappear. It is actually still there, but it's hid- 
den by the hi-res display. That is, it still exists on the text screen memory 
map, but that part of the text map isn't being displayed right now. To 
demonstrate this, hit return and then type text. When the screen flips 
back to text mode, you'll see your original hgr command, a bracket 
prompt on an otherwise blank line (where you hit return), and the text 
command. You'll also see that, no matter where all this occurred, your 
cursor is now at the bottom of the screen. This is a side effect of the text 



MAY 1984 



S 0 F T A L k 



141 



command. Type hgr again to return to graphics mode. 
HCOLOR= 3 

Typing this will have no effect on the screen, but it sets the color of 
any lines you draw subsequently to white. Figure 1 shows a list of the 
other legal values for the hcolor command and the colors they result in 
(or should result in— sometimes different monitors come up with dif- 
ferent colors). 

HPLOT 0,0 

Like lo-res graphics, hi-res graphics use a coordinate system with its 
origin at the upper left corner of the screen. The X coordinate (the arbi- 
trary name we will use from now on to discuss horizontal distance in dots 
from the left edge of the screen) can range from 0 to 279. The Y coordi- 
nate (ditto— the vertical distance from the top of the screen) can range 
from 0 to 191 . If the four lines of text are visible at the bottom, all points 
with a Y coordinate greater than 159 will be invisible. Plotting within 
that region will not cause an error message, but plotting outside of the le- 
gal X range or the greater legal Y range will. 

Here's where hi-res graphics get more sophisticated than lo-res 
graphics: 

HPLOT 0,0 TO 279,159 

Diagonal lines! A line is created by the command hplot and X,Y co- 
ordinates for a starting point, followed by the word to and X,Y coordi- 
nates for the ending point. Here's another surprise hi-res has in store: 

HPLOT 0,0 TO 279,0 TO 279,159 TO 0,159 TO 0,0 

You can keep tacking to X, Y onto the end of hplot statements to plot a se- 
ries of continuous lines. Each new line begins where the last one ended. 
And one last surprise, for this month anyway: 

HPLOT TO 140,159 

That's right, you can begin a plotting command with hplot to and Apple- 
soft will assume that the last point plotted is the starting point. 

Plotting on Paper. One way to become familiar with hi-res graphics 
is to use Applesoft commands and programs to create static displays. 
Let's start to design a logo for a fictional company, Stellar Software. 
Before you start typing commands and coordinates, it's a good idea to 
sketch on paper the picture you want to draw. Graph paper is excellent 
for this because you can set up a grid of Cartesian coordinates and trans- 
late the lines you draw directly into the parameters for hplot commands. 

Figure 2 shows just such a design for the Stellar logo. After getting 
the parameters from this design, we're ready to begin plotting. Let's 
start a program with the proper setup commands and then proceed with 
the S: 

10 HGR : HCOLOR = 3 

20 HPLOT 40,60 TO 30,50 TO 10,50 TO 0,60 TO 0,70 TO 10,80 TO 
30,80 TO 40,90 TO 40,100 TO 30,1 10 TO 10,1 10 TO 0,100 

When you run the program as it is so far, you get a nice big S on the 
screen. There are a lot of numbers in this program, but you can easily see 
where you might have made any mistakes just by running it and seeing 
what the result is. To continue: 

30 HPLOT 60,40 TO 60,100 TO 70,110 TO 80,110: HPLOT 50,60 TO 
70,60 

This one had to be done with two separate hplot commands because it 
isn't composed of one continuous stroke. Or, more simply, if you have to 
lift your pen when you write the letter, you have to use another hplot 



Hcolor Color 



black 

green 

violet 

white 

black 

orange 

blue 

white 



command when you plot it. 

But what about our method? Is it sufficiently flexible? What if we 
wanted to move the word? What if we wanted it to come out a different 
size? Obviously, we would have to go through and change a lot of co- 
ordinates. To scale it to half size, for example, we would have to divide 
all of those numbers by two. To move it to the right, we would have to 
add some constant to all of the numbers. Sounds like dull, tedious work. 
Sounds like the kind of work the Apple was made for. 

If we were to enter the numbers needed to create the seven letters of 
the word stellar into data statements instead of hplot statements, we 
could have the computer manipulate them before plotting, saving us a lot 
of work. First we should do some translation ourselves. Since all of these 
numbers are divisible by ten, we might as well divide them so that our 
raw data holds the coordinates for as small a picture as possible. Also, 
since our lowest Y coordinate is thirty (before dividing by ten), let's sub- 
tract thirty from all the Y coordinates before dividing by ten. This will 
make it simpler to put the picture anywhere on the screen in any size. 
The easiest way to do that is to change the axis numbers on the graph pa- 
per design of the logo. Starting on the Y-axis with what is now thirty, 
number 0, 1,2, 3, and so on. Then just cross off the zero at the end of all 
the X coordinates and you're done. 

This just leaves one more problem. How do we tell the computer, in 
data statements, when to hplot and when to hplot to! And how do we tell 
it we're done? Easy: We use special values embedded in the data that our 
data-reading routine will understand to be commands, just as we did with 
the lo-res letter data last month. The only requirement is that the com- 
mands can't be numbers we would use for coordinates. How about 
negative numbers? Okay, - 1 means new penstroke, -2 means all done. 
As an example, here's the data for the S: 



500 REM STELLAR DATA 
510 DATA -1, 4, 3, 3, 2, 1, 
1, 8, 0, 7 



2, 0, 3, 0, 4, 1, 5, 3, 5, 4, 6, 4, 7, 3, 



Here's a routine that will read that data and plot it: 
20 HGR2 : HCOLOR = 3 

600 REM DATA PLOTTER 
610 RESTORE 
620 READ X 

630 IFX = -2 THEN 680 

640 IF X = - 1 THEN READ X,Y: HPLOT X,Y: GOTO 620 

650 READY 

660 HPLOT TO X,Y 

670 GOTO 620 

680 RETURN 

The restore command in line 610 sets the data pointer to the first 
piece of data in the program. Normally, it starts at the beginning of the 
data and reads one element at a time; and when it runs out, it runs out. 
With restore, it can read the same set of data over and over again without 
having to read it into an array. This is a useful way of storing data that 
doesn't have to change and that you always want to get in the same order. 



oooooooooo 



ooooooooooooooooooo 



0 
10 
20 
30 
40 
50 
60 
70 
80 
90 
100 
110 
120 
130 
140 
150 
160 
170 
180 
190 



oi-oiroofincoNcDO) 



























































































































































































































































































/ 






\ 


































\ 




\ 


/ 






\ 




























































\ 


























































\ 




























/ 
































































k 














\ 






/ 






\ 












/ 










k 






/ 






































— 











































































































































































































































































































































































































































Figure 1 . Hi-res colors. 



Figure 2. Stellar logo design. 



142 



gxmn 



MAY 1984 



If you run the program now, you'll get a very small S at the top of the 
screen and an out-of-data error. The out-of-data error can be avoided by 
putting a —2 element at the end of the data. But we don't need to worry 
about that for now. The real problem is how to scale and relocate the 
picture. 

As usual, there are several ways to do this, but the one that will teach 
you the most and be the easiest to use in the long run is defined functions . 
A defined function works like this: A function is always called FN some- 
thing. The something is named with the same rules as a variable name, so 
FN X is a legal function name, as is FN XI ; but FN 1 is not. You define 
the function with the def command: 

DEF FN Y(Y) = (Y - 30)/ 10 

That would be the function to translate our old Y values from figure 2 to 
the new ones we'll use in the data statements. The arithmetic expression 
on the right of the equal sign usually includes the variable in parentheses, 
called the function's argument, which follows the function name. It may 
also contain other variables or constants. When you use this function, 
you can use a constant or another variable as the argument, such as: 

]PRINT FN Y (120) 
9 

This will substitute the value of 120 for the variable Y as it evaluates the 
function, but it will not change the value of Y in memory. If multiple 
variables are used in the function definition, only one can be used as the 
argument. 

Here's how we'll use two functions in the Stellar program: 
10 DEF FN X(X) = XB + X * M: DEF FN Y(Y) = YB + Y * M 

So XB and YB will be used as beginning points— the upper left corner 
of the shape— and M will describe the size of the shape. If we wanted to 
change the scale of the X-axis to be different from that of the Y-axis, we 
would use different variables for magnitude, say MX and MY. 

Now we just have to substitute FN X (X) for the Xs and FN Y(Y) for 
the Ys in the hplot statements: 



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640 IF X = - 1 THEN READ X,Y: HPLOT FN X(X), FN Y(Y): GOTO 620 
660 HPLOT TO FN X(X), FN Y(Y) 

So, try this: 

30 M = 20:XB = 10:YB = 10: GOSUB 600 

You'll still get an out-of-data error, but other than that, what appears 
on the screen should tell you how you're doing so far. The rest of the 
data, ending with —2, of course, will get rid of that end-of-data problem. 

520 DATA - 1 , 6, 1 , 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 8, -1,5, 3, 7, 3 

530 DATA -1, 9, 6, 13, 3, 12, 2, 10, 2, 9, 3, 9, 6, 11, 8, 12, 8, 13, 7 

540 DATA -1,14, 0, 14, 8 

550 DATA -1, 16, 0, 16, 8 

560 DATA -1, 17, 3, 18, 2, 20, 2, 21, 3, 21, 7, 22, 8,-1, 21, 5, 18, 5, 

17, 6, 17, 7, 18, 8, 20, 8, 21, 7 
570 DATA - 1 , 22, 2, 23, 3, 23, 8, - 1 , 23, 3, 24, 2, 26, 2, 27, 3,-2 

For some fancier logos, try looping through and incrementing the XB 
and YB values, like this: 

30 M = 10 

40 FOR YB = OTO 12 STEP 3 
50 XB = 2 * YB / 3 
60 GOSUB 600 
70 NEXT YB 
80 END 

Lots of other things are possible, too. If you don't like the name 
Stellar, try putting in your own software company name. Or your name. 
Try looping through and incrementing M as well as XB and YB. If 
you're really ambitious, you might try making a cross between this pro- 
gram and last month's lo-res banner to make a hi-res banner. 

Last month's banner and this month's logo are sort of examples of 
shape tables. That is, they use a collection of data to draw a picture. Ap- 
plesoft has a facility for shape tables built into it. It's more complicated 
than the ones we've looked at, but more powerful as well. Among other 
things, it allows some simple animation. And that will be the topic of 
next month's Follow the Floating Point. Hi 



GLOSSARY 

DEF: The command to define a user-created function. 
Followed by the function name, an argument, an equal 
sign, and the expression to be used in evaluating the 
function. 

Defined functions: A way for the programmer to set up 
equations that will be used frequently in the program as 
functions. They make it easier to use mathematical transla- 
tions of one kind of data to another, and they make pro- 
grams easier to read and write. 

FN: The Applesoft reserved word signifying the beginning of 
a function name. The rules for a legal function name are 
the same as the rules for a legal variable name. It must start 
with a letter, and only the first two characters after the FN 
are significant. 

HCOLOR: Sets the color for hi-res plotting. Although 
assigned like a variable, it cannot be used in an expres- 
sion. Its legal range of values is from 0 to 7. 

HGR: Turns on hi-res graphics mode, page one, and clears 
the screen. Four lines of text are displayed at the bottom of 
the screen. 

HGR2: Turns on hi-res graphics mode, page two, and clears 
the screen. 

HPLOT: Followed by a coordinate pair, plots a point. 
Followed by a coordinate pair, the keyword to, and an- 
other coordinate pair, draws a line. Followed by the 
keyword to and a coordinate pair, draws a line from the last 
point hplotted. 

Memory-mapped graphics: The graphics system used by 
the Apple in which areas of memory are set aside to repre- 
sent characters on the text screen, blocks on the lo-res 
screen, or dots on the hi-res screen. 

RESTORE: Used with read and data, this command sets the 
data pointer to the first element of data in the program, 
allowing data to be read more than once. 



System Saver didn't become the 
Apple's number one selling* 
peripheral by being just a fan. 



What made over 100,000 Apple owners fall in 
love with System Saver? The answer is simple. 
It's the most versatile, most convenient, most 
useful peripheral ever made for the Apple. 

System Saver niters out damaging AC line 
noise and power surges. 

70-90% of all microcomputer malfunctions can be 
traced to power line problems** Problems your 
System Saver guards against. 

Power line noise can often be interpreted as data. 
This confuses your computer and produces system 
errors. Power surges and spikes can cause severe 
damage to your Apple's delicate circuitry and lead 
to costly servicing. 

System Saver clips surges and 

spikes at a 130 Volts RMS/175 — 

Volts dc level. A PI type filter 
attenuates common and 
transverse mode noise by a 
minimum of 30 dB from 600 
kHz to 20 mHz with a max- 
imum attenuation of 50 dB. 
You end up with an Apple 
that's more accurate, more ™ 
efficient and more reliable. 

SYSTEM SAVER 



System Saver lets your Apple keep its cool. 

Today's advanced peripheral cards generate heat. In 
addition, the cards block any natural air flow through 
the Apple He creating high temperature conditions 
that shorten the life of the Apple and peripheral cards. 

System Saver's efficient, quiet 
fan draws fresh air across 
the mother board, over 
the power supply and 
out the side ventilation 

slots. It leaves your Apple cool, calm and running 

at top speed. 





System Saver makes your Apple more 
convenient to use. 

No more reaching around to the back of your Apple 
to turn it on. No more fumbling for outlets and cords 
to plug in your monitor and printer. System Saver 
organizes all your power needs. 



So if you want to keep 
damaging heat, line noise and power surges out of 
your system for good, pick up the only peripheral 
that's in use every second your computer is in use. 
The System Saver. You'll soon come to think of it as 
the piece Apple forgot. 

Compatible with Apple stand 




apple n 





It functions as a multi-outlet power strip with two 
switched outlets. Plus System Saver offers the 
ultimate convenience; a front mounted power switch 
for fingertip control of your entire system. 



$89.95 at Apple dealers everywhere. 

^kensington 
^microware 

251 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10010 
(212) 475- 5200 Telex : 467383 KML NY 



*Softsel Computer Products Hot List **PC Magazine March 1983 

System Saver is UL Listed. System Saver's surge suppression circuitry conforms System Saver is a registered trademark of Kensington Microware Ltd. 

to IEEE specification 507 1980, Category A Available in 220/240 Volts, 50/60 Hz © 1983 Kensington Microware Ltd. System Saver is patent pending. 



145 

&y CAM (AfcLSTOM 

Anyone who knows anything about the Apple computer 
knows that the Apple is not just a computer, it's a culture. A cul- 
ture that includes bluejeans and Softalk and a million inventive 
people with a common bond. Apple, in the form of its founders 
Steve and Steve, spawned the US Festival and assured us that 
1984 would not be like 1984 and . . . wait a minute. To the rest of 
the world Apple is just another computer; no more. It is not a 
cross of silver that protects the user from totalitarianism (the head 
of the Argentine prison system is an Apple owner) and bad 
bigness and three-piece suits. So when one is in the business of 
exporting Apples and associated products one needs to distin- 
guish the mystique from the computer. Both may be exportable, 
just as California can export the sunshine that goes into her 
agricultural products along with the products themselves, but the 
seller should not be confused as to which is which. 

In thinking about the Apple market overseas, it's best to start 
by putting the size of the market in perspective. 

Japan may be a wonderful place to sell salmon and Douglas 
fir, but as a market for Apple software it ranks about as high as 
the Minneapolis metropolitan area. And the rest of the world, 
meaning predominately Europe and Australia, has about as big an 
Apple software appetite as Chicago— certainly not insignificant, 
but small enough that any company wishing to export needs to 
give considerable thought to what its overall goals in foreign Ap- 
ple markets might be. 

These conditions may very well change. Apple is well posi- 
tioned to expand greatly its market share overseas, where the 
name IBM doesn't so readily stand in its way; although illegal 
Apple clones may offset this. 

At present, the problem of exporting Apple software can be 
expressed fairly simply: Is it profitable? American distributors, 
taking advantage of the same economies of scale that enable them 
to function in the United States, already sell American product 
overseas, so there may be no incentive at all for suppliers to make 
their own contacts. Distribution is, after all, a valuable and ex- 
pensive service, so why duplicate the effort? 

One reason is the wish to enhance the distributors' efforts, 
rather than duplicate them— by providing software and documen- 
tation in the local language, for example. A U.S. company may 
wish to expend an extra effort to gain a greater market share in 
the face of the foreign domestic competition, which is often pro- 
tected by trade barriers. The very willingness to export can lead 
to reciprocal arrangements that provide the American company 
with foreign products for the American market. 

Sayonara. The Apple software market in Japan has probably 
never exceeded five hundred units of any given package. Heavily 
documented software is very difficult for the Japanese to use be- 
cause English isn't widely understood. 

Over the past few years many companies have translated 
packages into Japanese, which can increase the market penetra- 
tion of the product, provided it doesn't increase the price signifi- 
cantly. Fortunately for American suppliers, the Japanese remain 
infatuated by American creativity, so American software can 
command higher prices than local products. This is somewhat 
ironic: Japan is the only foreign country whose quality of enter- 
tainment software approaches American standards and whose 
many programmers have had success selling their programs in the 
U.S. (through American publishers). 

In an effort to spur its domestic software industry, Japan is 
formulating tighter copyright laws to lessen the impact of piracy 
and is exploring hardware standards. The MSX, an eight-bit stan- 
dard built around a Z-80 and the Texas International graphics 
chip, will enable Japanese companies to cut their teeth on a 
sizable domestic market before venturing into the volatile 
American and European markets. 



146 mvm 

Why Don't the English Teach Their Children. ... In con- 
trast to Japan, Great Britain has always been a good market for 
Apple software but has never been a successful producer of prod- 
ucts for the American market. Favored by a common language 
and relatively little red tape, American suppliers and distributors 
have long found a steady market for products in England. This 
has slowed in the past year or so because the strength of the 
American dollar makes U.S. products sell for two to four times 
the price of domestic software products. 

As a result, English software companies have thrived. The 
price differential has spared British producers from being com- 
pared point by point against technically more refined American 
Apple software products. The long-term prognosis, however, 
would seem to indicate that domestic competition in Great Britain 
will result in significantly improved software, just as it has here, 
and that American software will be priced out of the British 
market when that occurs. 

American software suppliers would look very favorably at a de- 
cline in the strength of the dollar. An increase in the relative 
strength of the pound or the mark means that American goods 
priced in dollars become less expensive in foreign markets. For ex- 
ample, presently an American-made game for the Apple computer 
costs twenty-five to thirty-five pounds sterling in England, com- 
pared to eight to twelve pounds for an English-made game. Four 
years ago, when the dollar was not so strong, that same American 
game would have cost ten to fifteen pounds sterling while the Eng- 
lish game would still have cost eight to twelve pounds. 

It's Very Fancy, the Continental. On the European conti- 



A L K MAY 19 8 4 

nent, many software vendors are looking at major European dis- 
tributors to help translate and sell American products. France has 
a law requiring French documentation for all software sold there, 
and, though the law is inconsistently enforced, it creates un- 
certainty around American products that don't have French 
documentation. 

In addition, the role of the distributor in Europe is different 
from what it is here. Distributors are the exclusive representa- 
tives of the products they carry, with marketing and customer ser- 
vice obligations beyond those of American distribution com- 
panies. The person on the street in Europe tends to know the 
names of the major product distributors, because the distributors 
are contractually bound to advertise and serve the products of the 
manufacturers they represent. American distributors are more 
geared toward serving the retailer, usually not assuming as many 
marketing and service responsibilities for the manufacturer. 

A major part of any business transaction, whether it's a con- 
sumer buying a piece of software or a store agreeing to buy the 
software from the manufacturer, is confidence. The difficulty 
anyone faces in doing business overseas is trying to establish the 
same confidence in a short series of meetings that they have been 
able to establish at home over a period of years. If you were try- 
ing to publish your products in Germany, for example, and you 
were approached by someone from Bertelsmen Publishing and 
someone from KomputerGesellschaft of Berlin, would you know 
that the former is a $2.5-billion company and the latter a name 
made up for this article? 

Tales of the South Pacific. Australia has proven to be an in- 
teresting challenge for American producers. The Australian mar- 
ket is relatively small and difficult to service because of its geo- 
graphical size. In addition, the Australian business environment 
is untamed and very competitive. Interviewing Australian 
distributors is similar to taking part in small talk at a poolside 
party at J.R. Ewing's house. Words like biggest, richest, and 
control seem to fit in when Australians discuss business. But the 
winner of the shootout at the Aussie corral seems to be a mild- 
mannered, bespectacled young organization named Imagineer- 
ing. American companies looking for a partner down under have 
reacted positively to Imagineering's management style, which 
favors footwork over breast-beating. 

The chances of getting products into Australia without having 
to pay a hefty 40 percent customs duty depend very much on 
whether the customs agent on duty on a given day thinks that soft- 
ware ought to be classified as a toy or as stationery or plain 
doesn't know what it is. 

Because of the customs problem, many software manufac- 
turers have chosen to have their software mastered (duplicated in 
quantity from a master disk) in overseas locations. This practice 
enables foreign distributors to meet demand more quickly and 
cheaply, which is a major key to preventing pirated software 
from dominating foreign markets. 

Programmers from Australia and New Zealand have had 
some good success in the United States market. Many Apple 
owners may be fans of Southern Command, Dragon 's Eye, or the 
Zardax word processor without realizing they're contributing to 
our balance-of-payments deficit. 

The Apples of Babel. Apple's software base gives Apple 
Computer a powerful weapon in the fight for new foreign hard- 
ware markets. Purchasing decisions in developing nations are 
likely to be based on stability and support. As these markets 
grow, so too will the demand for software in ever-more-obscure 
languages, and the challenge to understand foreign languages 
and cultures will become increasingly important in the software 
industry. 

Translating the Apple "culture" into foreign environments 
may be one of the most interesting parts of the task. 9 



OUTTAKiiS l=RCM AN 
ISXPORTISR'S NCTIEIJOCK 

Years ago, we collared a deal with Japan— eventually worth mil- 
lions—by leaving a copy of Harvard magazine on the coffee table. 
Not knowing anything about Japan, but thinking that foreigners often 
value education over money, our company officers hoped to compen- 
sate for their lack of funds. Upon entering die office (a living room), 
the president of the Japanese company saw the magazine and jumped 
into a three-day conversation on world history, literature, and West- 
ern moral thought. At the end of the three days, he signed a deal with 
us without ever completing his itinerary of American suitors. 

• 

I once went to New Zealand at the request of a distributor who 
wanted nationwide rights to our Apple product. When I got there, die 
New Zealander asked me to help him set up the Apple because he'd 
never seen one before. 

• 

Last year we received a letter from England that began, "Dear 
Sir, we are probably the least successful software publisher in 
England, with die worst sales force, the lousiest typist, and the most 
inept board of directors in the country. ... If you don't want our 
software, we can live with it, because we are pigheaded enough to 
believe that this computer genius we have locked up in the basement 
will eventually come up with something useful." 

Their games were the best I had ever seen from England. 

• 

Just before the British- Argentine war over the Falkland Islands, 
we had a regular customer in the Falklands who was asking for 
islandwide rights. We didn't ask whether he wanted both English and 
Spanish rights. 

• 

We've had requests for Lebanese educational rights, rights for the 
South African "coloured" market, and Polish rights; we've even had 
a request from the director of Argentinean prisons — during their reign 
of terror— for more combat simulations. The lesson seems to be that, 
no matter what goes on in the world, people want software and wdl 
eventually want it to reflect their culture, however remote from the 
peaceful traffic jams of Silicon Valley. C( 31 




ATARISOFT 

Centipede $28.00 

Defender $28.00 

Pac-Man $28.00 

Robotron 2084 28.00 

AVALON HILL 

T.A.C $28.00 

Telengard 28.00 

AVANT-GARDE CREATIONS 

Computer Golf 2 $25.00 

BEAGLE BROTHERS 

Alpha Plot $28 00 

Apple Mechanic 21.00 

Beagle Bag 21.00 

Beagle Basic 28.00 

DOS Boss 20 00 

Double Take 25.00 

Flex Text/Type 21.00 

Frame Up 21.00 

Pronto DOS 21.00 

Tip Disk #1 15.00 

Typefaces 15.00 

Utility City 21 00 

BLUE CHIP 

Baron $42 00 

Millionaire 42.00 

Tycoon 42.00 

BRODERBUND 

A.E $25.00 

Bank Street Writer 48 00 

Choplifter 25 00 

Drol 25 00 

Gumball 21.00 

Lode Runner 25.00 

Spare Change 25.00 

CALIFORNIA PACIFIC 

Ultima/Akalabeth $25.00 

CBS SOFTWARE 

Goren: Learning Bridge 

Made Easy $56.00 

Mastering the SAT 105.00 

Mystery Master 25.00 

Success With Math . . .ea. 20.00 

DATAMOST 

Aztec $28.00 

Bilestoad 28 00 

Casino 28.00 

Swashbuckler 25 00 

Theif 21.00 

DATASOFT 

Zaxxon $28.00 

DECISION SUPPORT 

The Accountant $99.00 

Business Accountant . . .225.00 

DESIGN-WARE 

Creature Creator $28.00 

Crypto-Cube 28.00 

Spellicopter 28.00 

Trap-A-Zoid 28,00 

EDU-WARE 

Algebra 1-4 ea $28.00 

Algebra 5 & 6 35.00 

Compu-Read 21.00 

Decimals 35.00 

Fractions 35 00 

Prisoner 2 25.00 

Rendezvous 28.00 

EINSTEIN 

Einstein Compiler $99.00 

Memory Trainer 68.00 



ELECTRONIC ARTS 

Archon $28.00 

Axis Assassin 25.00 

Dr. J & Larry Bird Go 

One-on-One 26.00 

Hard Hat Mack 25.00 

Last Gladiator 25.00 

Music Construction 

Set 28.00 

Pinball Construction 

Set 28.00 

Standing Stones 28.00 

H.A.L. LABS 

Super Taxman 2 $20.00 

Vindicator 20.00 

HAYDEN SOFTWARE 

Go $25.00 

MicroMath ea. 21.00 

ORCA/M 99.00 

Pie Writer 2.2 112.00 

Sargon III 35.00 

HOWARD SOFTWARE 

Tax Preparer 1 983 ....$169.00 
Tax Preparer 1 984 CALL 

INFOCOM 

Deadline $35.00 

Enchanter 35.00 

Infidel 35.00 

Planetfall 35.00 

Starcross 28.00 

Suspended 35.00 

Witness 35.00 

Zork I. II, III ea 28.00 

KOALA TECHNOLOGIES 

Koala Touch Tablet .... $89.00 

Coloring Book 21,99 

Spider Eater 21.00 

KRELL SOFTWARE 

Krell Logo $75.00 

Krell SAT 249.00 

L & S COMPUTER WARE 

Crossword Magic $35.00 

LIGHTNING SOFTWARE 

Master Type $28.00 

MICROLAB 

Death in Carribean $25.00 

Dino Eggs 28.00 

Miner 2049er 28 00 

MICROMAX 

Cubit $28.00 

(Call for pricing on 
MICROMAX hardware) 

MICROSOFT 

MultiPlan $175.00 

Olympic Decathlon 21.00 

Typing Tutor II 20.00 

MONOGRAM 

Dollars & Sense $79.00 



No Hidden Charges 
No Charge for Credit Cards 
No Shipping Delay for Personal Checks 




MUSE 

Advanced Blackjack $35.00 

Castle Wolfenstein 21.00 

Caverns of Freitag 21 00 

Eating Machine 35.00 

Robot War 28.00 

Super Text 79.00 

ODESTA 

Chess 7.0 $49.00 

Checkers 35.00 

Odin 35.00 

OMEGA MICROWARE 

Chart Trader + $149.00 

Inspector 45.00 

Locksmith 5.0 75.00 

Watson 35.00 

ORIGIN SYSTEMS 

Exodus: Ultima III $40.00 



HARDWARE 

JOYSTICKS AND 
PADDLES 

Hayes Joysticks . . . CALL 

Kraft Joystick 40.00 

Kraft Paddles 35.00 

MODEMS 

Apple Cat II $295.00 

Apple Cat 212 580.00 

Micromodem lie . . 259.00 
(Works with all Apples) 

PRINTER INTERFACES 

Grappler + $125.00 

Grappler/16K 

buffer 199.00 

Orange Interface . . 75.00 

80 COLUMN CARDS 

Ultraterm $279.00 

Videoterm CALL 

BLANK DISKS (box of 10) 
Elephant SS/SD . . $22.00 
Elephant SS/DD . . . 25.00 

Maxell SS/DD 30.00 

Verbatim SS/DD . . . 28.00 
Disk File Box 

(holds 60) 20.00 

MISCELLANEOUS 
HARDWARE 

Alaska Card $99.00 

Microsoft 

Softcard 225.00 

System Saver 65.00 



PENGUIN 

Bouncing Kamungas . . . $15 00 

Comp. Graphics Sys 49.00 

Coveted Mirror 15.00 

Crime Wave 15.00 

Graphics Magacian 42.00 

Minit Man 15.00 

Pensate 15.00 

Pie Man 15.00 

Quest 15.00 

Short Cuts 28.00 

Special Effects 28.00 

Spy's Demise 15.00 

Spy Strikes Back 15 .00 

Thunderbombs 15.00 

Transylvania 15.00 

PHOENIX SOFTWARE 

Masquerde $25.00 

Sherwood Forest 25.00 

SCREENPLAY 

Ken Uston's Professional 
Blackjack $49.00 

SENSIBLE SOFTWARE 

Bookends $99.00 

Sensible Speller 99.00 

SIERRA ON-LINE 

Adv. #0 Mission 

Asteroid $15.00 

Adv. #1 Mystery 

House 15.00 

Adv. #2 Wizard & the 

Princess 25.00 

Adv. #3Cranston 

Manor 25.00 

Adv. #4 Ulysses 25.00 

Adv. #5 Time Zone 70.00 

Adv. #6 Dark Crystal .... 28.00 

Dragon's Keep 21.00 

Frogger 25.00 

Learning W/Leeper 21.00 

Mr. Cool 21.00 

Quest for Tires 25.00 

Sammy Lightfoot 21.00 

Troll's Tale 21 .00 

Ultima II 42.00 

The Artist 60.00 

Homeword 37.00 

Screenwriter II 89.00 

SILICON VALLEY SYSTEMS 

Word Handler $45.00 

List Handler 40.00 

Spell Handler 45.00 

The Handlers Pkg 99.00 

SIR-TECH 

Wizardry $35.00 

Knight of Diamonds 25.00 

Legacy of LLylgamyn . . . 28.00 
Wiziprint 20.00 



RISING SUN SOFTWARE 
4200 PARK BLVD. 
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA 94602 
(415) 482-3391 

Ordering Information: We'll accept any form of payment — cash, personal check, money order, VISA/ 
MasterCard, or C O D. Send cash at your own risk. Add $2.00 for UPS shipping; $3.00 for Blue Label 
Air. California residents add applicable sales tax. ALL orders shipped same day received. If we are out 
of stock on a particular item we will include a special bonus with your order when shipped. 



CALL TOLL FREE 
800-321-7770 (outside California) 
800-321-7771 (inside California) 





SIRIUS 

Critical Mass $28 00 

Gamma Goblins 12 00 

Gorgon 20 00 

Gruds in Space 28 00 

Orbitron 12.00 

Repton 28 00 

Type Attack 28 00 

Wayout 28 00 

SOFTWARE 
ENTERTAINMENT 

Electronic 

Playground $20 00 

Stellar 7 28 00 

SOFTWARE PUBLISHING 

PFS: File $95.00 

PFS: Report 95 00 

PFS: Graph 95.00 

PFS: Write 95.00 

(Specify for II or lie) 

SPINNAKER 

Alphabet Zoo $21.00 

Delta Drawing 35.00 

Face Maker 25.00 

Kindercomp 21.00 

Most Amazing Thing .... 28 00 

Snooper Troops ea. 32.00 

Story Machine 25.00 

Trains 28.00 

STRATEGIC SIMULATIONS 

Bomb Alley $42 00 

Broadsides 28.00 

Carrier Force 42 00 

Computer Ambush 42.00 

Computer Baseball 28.00 

Computer 

Quarterback 28.00 

Cosmic Balance ea. 28.00 

Eagles 28.00 

Fighter Command 42.00 

Fortress 25.00 

Galactic Adventures 42.00 

Geopolitique 1990 28.00 

Germany 1985 42.00 

Knights of the Desert 28.00 

North Atlantic '86 42.00 

Prof. Tour Golf 28.00 

RDF 1985 25.00 

Ringside Seat 28.00 

Tigers in the Snow 28.00 

Warp Factor 28.00 

STONEWARE 

DB Master V.4 $279.00 

SUB-LOGIC 

Flight Simulator II $35.00 

Night Mission Pinball 21.00 

Saturn Navigator 25.00 

Space Vikings 35.00 

UTILICO SOFTWARE 

Essential Data 
Duplicator $60.00 

ULTRASOFT 

Mask of the Sun $28.00 

Serpent's Star 28.00 

VISICORP 

VisiCalc $175.00 

VisiCalc lie 175.00 

VisiCalc Adv. Me 220.00 

VisiFile 175.00 

XEROX EDUCATION 

Chivalry $35.00 

Fat City 28.00 

Old Ironsides 28.00 

Stickybear ABC 28.00 

Basketbounce 28.00 

Bop 28.00 

Numbers 28.00 

Opposites 28.00 

Shapes 28.00 




Apple Mechanic's hi-res ) 
type routines and fonts are 
usable in your programs 
WITHOUT LICENSING 
FEE. Just give Beagle Bros 
credit on your disk and . 
documentation. J 



APPLE MECHANIC 

HI-RES SHAPE EDITOR / TYPE FONT DISK 
by BERT KERSEY 

$29.50 Includes Peeks/Pokes Chart & Tip Book #5. 
SHAPE EDITOR: Keyboard-draw hi-res shapes 
foranimation in your Applesoft programs. Access & 
create proportionally-spaced hi-res Typefaces with 
each character re-definable as you want. Six fonts 
are included on the disk. Excellent LISTable Apple- 
soft demos show you how to animate graphics and 
create professional-looking Charts and Graphs. 
BYTE-ZAP: Rewrite any byte on a disk for repair 
or alteration Load entire sectors on the screen for 
inspection, Hex/Dec/Ascii displays and input. Edu- 
cational experiments included for making trick file 
names, restoring deleted files, changing DOS, etc. 
MORE: Useful music, text and hi-res tricks for your 
programs Clear educational documentation. 
_ AppLE MEC||AN | C — 

TYPEFACES 

by BERT KERSEY 

$20.00 Includes Peeks & Pokes Chart 
26 NEW FONTS for use with Apple Mechanic 
programs. Many different sizes and typestyles. both 
ordinary and c5\rtistic. Every character— from A to 
Z to "*" to "□"—of every typeface— from "Ace" to 
"Zooloo" — is re-definable to suit your needs. All 
typefaces are proportionally spaced for a more pro- 
fessional appearance People do notice the difference 1 
BEAGLE MENU: Display only the file names you 
want from your disks (for example, only Applesoft 
or only Locked files) for fast 
one-key cursor selection 



DOS BOSS 

DISK COMMAND EDITOR 
by BERT KERSEY and JACK CASSIDY 



^SILICON SALAD 

-^gVH • INCLUDING TIP DISK #2 



$24.00 Includes Peeks/Pokes Chart & Tip Book #2. 
RENAME DOS COMMANDS & Error Mes 
sages— "Catalog" can be "Cat"; "Syntax Error" can 
be "Oops" or almost anything you want it to be 
PROTECT YOUR PROGRAMS. An unautho- 
rized Save-attempt can produce a "Not Copyable" 
message, or any message you want. Also easy List- 
Prevention and other useful Apple tips and tricks. 
Plus one-key program-execution from catalog. 
CUSTOMIZE DOS. Change the catalog Disk 
Volume heading to your message or title. Omit or 
alter catalog file codes. Fascinating documentation, 
tips and educational Apple experiments 
ANYONE USING YOUR DISKS (booted or 
not) will be using DOS the way YOU designed it. 





by BERT KERSEY and MARK SIMONSEN 



GOTO your 
Apple Software 
Store for Beagle Bros 
products. If he is out of a 
particular disk, get on his 
case. He can have any 
Beagle Bros disk for you 
within a couple of days by phoning I 
ANY Apple Software Distributor. 



RUSH the following disks by First Class Mail — 



10 LIST: LIST: LIST: FOR ZZ PEEK(175)+PEEK 
(176)*256+36 TO 3072: POKE ZZ.216: NEXT 

20 FOR XXX 1 TO 2: POKE-16299,0: POKE 
-16300,0: XXX 1: NEXT: REM Experiment 
with different length variable names. 

BEAGLE BAG 

12 APPLE GAMES ON ONE DISK 
by BERT KERSEY 

$29.50: Includes Peeks & Pokes Chart ^. 
COMPARE BEAGLE BAG with any single- 
game Locked-Up disk on the market today. 
^J^i All 12 games are a blast, the price is a bar- 
%f L gain, the instructions are crystal clear, and 
the disk is COPYABLE You can even 
change the programs or list them to learn 
)_Jx^ programming tricks by seeing how they work. 
TWELVE GAMES from the Applesoft Ace, Bert 
Kersey— TextTram, Wowzo, Magic Pack, Buzz- 
word, Slippery Digits, and many many more... 
EXCELLENT REVIEWS-See Jan-83 Softalk. 
p 148 Beagle Menu too: see Typefaces description 



□ Apple Mechanic 

□ AM Typefaces . 



□ Beagle BASIC 



$3950 


□ Frame-Up 


$29 50 


29 50 


□ GPLE 


49 95 


20.00 


□ ProntoDOS 


29 50 


29 50 


□ Silicon Salad . 


. . 24 95 


34.95 


□ Tip Disk 1*1 


20 00 


29 50 


□ Utility City 


29 50 


24.00 


□ 




34 95 


□ ADD ME to mailing list 


29 50 


□ ALREADY ON 


mail list 



□ Flex Type . . . 

AT YOUR APPLE DEALER NOW! 

Or order directly from Beagle Bros — 




Visa MasterCard or COD. call TOLL-FREE 
Orders only / ALL 50 STATES / 24 Hours a Day 

1 -800-2 2 7-3800 ext. 1 eo? 

OR mail U S Check. Money-Order or Visa MC» 

to BEAGLE BROS, 8th Floor 
4315 SIERRA VISTA. SAN DIEGO. CA 92103 

Ailri SI 50 Fust Class Shipping Any-Si*e Order 
Overseas add S4 00 COD add S3 00 Calilornia add 6°o 
ALL ORDERS SHIPPED IMMEDIATELY 





4315 SIERRA VISTA / SAN DIEGO, CA 92103 
619-296-6400 

ALL BEAGLE DISKS ARE 
UNLOCKED, COPYABLE 
AND COMPATIBLE WITH 
APPLE II, 11+ AND He.* 
(Don't Settle for Less!) 

•DISKQUIK requires Apple lie. 
"APPLE" is a Registered Trade Mark of You-Know-Who 



$24.95: Includes Peeks/Pokes AND Commands Charts 

MANY MINI-UTILITIES: Disk Scanner finds 
bad disk sectors, Key-Clicker adds subtle sound as 
you type, DOS-Killer adds two tracks of space to 
your disks. 2-Track Cat allows up to 210 file names 
per disk, Program Splitter makes room tor hi-res pix 
with large Applesoft programs, Text Imprinter trans- 
fers text to the hi-res screen, OnerrTell Me prints the 
appropriate error message but continues program 
execution, Text Screen Formatter converts text 
layouts into Print statements , plus much more 
Apple wizardry from the boys at Beagle Bros. 
MORE TIPS ON DISK: Including fantastic pro- 
gramming tricks from Beagle Bros Tip Books 5, 6 
and 7, plus programs from Tips/Tricks Chart #1. 

TWO-LINERS TOO: From our customers around 
the world — and elsewhere. Little mind-blowers that 
will teach your old Apple some new tricks! 

TIP DISK #1 

100 TIP BOOK TIPS ON DISK 
by BERT KERSEY ( 

$20.00: Includes Peeks & Pokes Chart 
100 LISTABLE PROGRAMS from Beagle 
Bros Tip Books 1-4. Make your Apple do things it's 
never done 1 All 100 programs are LISTable and 
changeable for Apple experimentation. 
COMMAND CHART INCLUDED: Free with 
each Tip Disk; an 1 1 x 17 poster of all Applesoft. 
Integer Basic & DOS Commands with Descriptions' 



EARLY 
MODEM 




FLEX TYPE 

(FORMERLY "FLEX TEXT") 

VARIABLE-WIDTH HI-RES TEXT UTILITY 
by MARK SIMONSEN 

$29.50: Includes Peeks & Pokes Chart 
PRINT VARIABLE-WIDTH TEXT on both hi 
res screens with normal Applesoft commands 
(including HTAB 1-70). Normal, expanded & com- 
pressed text with no extra hardware. (70-column 
text requires a monochrome monitor, not a tv) 
ADD GRAPHICS TO TEXT or add Text to hires 
graphics Run your existing Applesoft programs 
under Flex Type control. Fast, easy to use, and 
Compatible with GPLE and Double-Take 
DOS TOOL KIT" font compatibility, or use the 
supplied Flex Type typefaces Select up to 9 fonts 
with control-key commands A text character editor 
lets you redesign any Apple text character. 

FRAME-UP 

FAST APPLE DISPLAY UTILITY 
by TOM WEISHAAR 

$29.50: Includes Peeks & Pokes Chart 
PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATIONS: Turn 

your existing Hi-Res, Lo-Res and Text frames into 
attractive Apple "slide shows". FAST hi-res loads in 
2'/?-seconds l Paddle or Keyboard-advance frames. 
UNATTENDED SHOWS are optional, with each 
picture arranged and pre-programmed to display 
on the screen from 1 to 99 seconds Custom Text 
Screen Editor lets you create black-and-white text 
"slides" and add type "live" from the keyboard during 
shows. Mail copies of presentations on disk to your 
friends and associates (or home to Mom!). 



& GPLE 

GLOBAL PROGRAM LINE EDITOR 
by NEIL KONZEN 

$49.95: Includes Peeks/Pokes Chart & Tip Book #7. 
A CLASSIC APPLE PROGRAM EDITOR 

GPLE lets you edit Applesoft program lines FAST 
without awkward cursor-tracing and "escape editing". 
INSERT & DELETE: GPLE works like a word 
processor for Applesoft program lines. You make 
changes instantly by lumping the cursor to the 
change point and inserting or deleting text. No need 
to trace to the end of a line before hitting Return 
GLOBAL SEARCH & REPLACE: Find any 
word or variable in your programs, FAST. For 
example, find all lines containing a GOSUB, or edit 
or delete all lines with REM statements, or all occur- 
rences of any variable Replace any variable, word 
or character with any other. For example, change all 
X's to ABC's, or all "Horse" strings to "Cow" 
80-COLUMN COMPATIBILITY: All edit & glo- 
bal features support Apple Me 80-column cards and 
most 80-column cards on any Apple lie. 11+ or II. 
DEFINABLE ESC FUNCTIONS: Define ESC 
plus any key to perform any task. For example. 
ESC-1 can catalog drive 1 , ESC-L can do a "HOME: 
LIST", ESC-N could type an entire subroutine.. 
Anything you want, whenever you want. 
GPLE DOS MOVER: Move DOS and GPLE to 
Language Card (or lie upper 16K) for an EXTRA 
10,000 Bytes (10K) of programmable memory. 
Plus APPLE TIP BOOK #7: Learn more about 
your Apple! Includes all new GPLE tips and tricks. 




UTILITY CITY 

21 PROGRAMMING UTILITIES 
by BERT KERSEY 

$29.50: Includes Peeks/Pokes Chart & Tip Book #3 
LIST FORMATTER prints each program state- 
ment on a new line. Loops indented with printer 
Page Breaks. A great Applesoft program de-bugger 
MULTI-COLUMN CATALOGS, with or without 
sector and file codes. Organize your disk library. 
INVISIBLE and trick catalog file names. Invisible 
functioning commands in Applesoft programs too. 
MUCH MORE: 21 utilities, including auto-post 
Run-number & Date in programs, alphabetize/store 
info on disk, convert dec to hex or Int to FP, protect 
and append programs, dump text to printer... 
LEARN PROGRAMMING: List-able programs 
and informative documentation. Includes Tip Book 
#3. Hours of good reading & Applesoft experiments. 

ALPHA PLOT 

HI-RES GRAPHICS/TEXT UTILITY 
by BERT KERSEY and JACK CASSIDY 

$39.50: Includes Peeks/Pokes Chart & Tip Book #4. 
DRAW IN HI-RES on both Apple "pages" using 
easy keyboard commands OR paddles/joystick. 
Pre-view lines before plotting. Solid or mixed colors 
& Reverse (background-opposite) drawing. FAST 
one-keystroke circles, boxes & ellipses, filled or out- 
lined. Add text for graphs & charts. All pix Save-able 
to disk, to be called from your Applesoft programs. 
COMPRESS HI-RES DATA to 1/3 disk space 
(average) allowing more hi-res pictures per disk. 
MANIPULATE IMAGES: Superimpose any two 
images, or RE-LOCATE any rectangular section of 
any drawing anywhere on either hi-res page. 
HI-RES TYPE: Add text to your pictures with 
adjustable character-size and large-character color 
Type anywhere with no HtabA/tab limits Type 
sideways too, for graphs. Includes Tip Book #4. 





4315 SIERRA VISTA / SAN DIEGO, CA 92103 
619-296-6400 

ALL BEAGLE DISKS ARE 
UNLOCKED, COPYABLE 
AND COMPATIBLE WITH 
APPLE II, 11+ AND lie.* 

(Don't Settle for Less!) 

* DISKQUIK requires Apple lie 
"APPLE" is a Registered Trade Mark of You-Know-Who 

BEAGLE BASIC 

APPLESOFT ENHANCER 
by MARK SIMONSEN 

$34.95: Includes Peeks/Pokes Chart & Tip Book #6. 

Requires Apple lie (OR 11/11+ with RAM Card) 
RENAME ANY APPLESOFT COMMAND or 

Error Message to anything you want. For program 
clarification, encryption/protection or even foreign 
translation. Plus add optional NEW COMMANDS: 
ELSE follows If-Then statements, like this: 
IF X=2 THEN PRINT "YES": ELSE PRINT "NO" 
HSCRN reads color of any hi-res dot for collision 
testing. SWAP X,Y exchanges 2 variables' values. 
New TONE command writes music with no messy 
pokes & calls SCRL scrolls text in either direction 
TXT2 lets Text Page 2 act exactly like Page 1. 
PLUS: GOTO & GOSUB may precede variables, 
as in "GOSUB FIX" or "GOTO 4+X". Escape-mode 
indicated by special ESC CURSOR. Replace awk- 
ward Graphics screen-switch pokes with 1-word 
commands. Change ctrl-G Beep to any tone. 
INVERSE REMS tool All GPLE compatible. 



1 FOR S768 TO 773: READ A: 
POKE S.A; NEXT. POKE 232,0: 
POKE 233,3: DATA 1,0,4,0,5,0 

2 HGR2: FOR R = 0 TO 192: ROT fl: 
SCALE-96: XDRAW 1 AT 140,95: 
SCALE = 30: XDRAW 1 AT 140,95: 
S=PEEK(49200): NEXT: RUN 




4* DISKQUIK 

W DISK DRIVE EMULATOR 



DISK DRIVE EMULATOR 
by HARRY BRUCE and GENE HITE 



$29.50 Includes Peeks & Pokes Chart 
Requires Apple lie with Extended 80-column Card 
ACTS LIKE A DISK DRIVE in Slot 3. but much 
faster, quieter, more reliable and $350+ cheaper 1 
En|oy the benefits of a 2nd (or 3rd or 4th ) drive at 
less than 1/10th the price. Catalogs normally with 
"CATALOG, S3" command Load & Save any kind 
of files into RAM with normal DOS commands 
SILENT AND FAST: Since no moving parts are 
involved. DiskQuik operates silently and at super- 
high speeds See it to believe it Your Apple lie's 
Extended 80-column Card (required) can hold 
about half the amount of data as a 5 V floppy disk 1 
MANY USES: For example, auto-load often-used 
files like FID etc , etc., into RAM when you boot up, 
so they are always available when you need them 
Copy files from RAM onto disk and vice versa, just 
as if a disk drive were connected to slot #3 
FRIENDLY & COMPATIBLE with 80 column 
display, GPLE, ProntoDOS, and all normal Apple- 
soft and DOS commands and procedures Will not 
interfere with Apple lie "Double Hi-Res" graphics 

GOTO any Software Store for Beagle ESroj 
if they are out of a particular disk, 
get on the stick, and^a 
619-296-6400 p 

Distribi 
every 
our di: 
to Uncle 
are unprot 
floppies wj 
everywhe* 

~~ DOUBLE-TAKE 

2-WAY-SCROLL/MULTIPLE UTILITY 
by MARK SIMONSEN 

$34.95: Includes Peeks/Pokes AND Tips/Tricks Charts 
2-WAY SCROLLING: Listings & Catalogs scroll 
Up AND Down, making file names and program 
lines much easier to access Change the Catalog or 
List scroll-direction at will, with Apple's Arrow keys 
80-COLUMN COMPATIBLE: All features sup 
port lie and most other 80-column cards. 
BETTER LIST FORMAT: Each program state- 
ment lists on a new line for FAST program tracing & 
de-bugging. Printer-compatible; any column-width 
VARIABLE-DISPLAY: Displays all of a pro- 
gram's strings and variables with current values 
CROSS-REFERENCE: Sorts and displays line 
numbers where each variable & string appears 
AUTO-LINE-NUMBER. Hex/Dec Converter, bet- 
ter Renumber/Append, Program Stats, Change 
Cursor, Space-On-Disk GPLE/Pronto compatible 




□ Alpha Plot S39 50 

□ Apple Mechanic . . . 29.50 

□ AM Typefaces .... 2000 

□ Beagle Bag 29.50 

□ Beagle BASIC .... 34.95 

□ DiskQuik 29 50 

□ DOS Boss 24.00 

□ Double-Take 34.95 

□ Flex Type 29.50 



□ Frame-Up S29 50 

□ GPLE 49 95 

□ ProntoDOS 29 50 

□ Silicon Salad .... 2495 

□ Tip Disk #1 20 00 

□ Utility City 29 50 

□ 

□ ADD ME to mailing list 

□ ALREADY ON mail list 



AT YOUR APPLE DEALER NOW! 

Or order directly from Beagle Bros— 



PRONTODOS 

HIGH-SPEED DOS / DOS-MOVE UTILITY 
by TOM WEISHAAR 

$29.50: Includes Peeks & Pokes Chart 
TRIPLES THE SPEED of disk access and frees 
10,000 bytes of extra memory by moving DOS 
Function Normal Pronto 

BLOAD HI-RES IMAGE 10 sec. 3 sec. 

LOAD 60-SECTOR PROGRAM ... 16 sec. 4 sec. 
SAVE 60-SECTOR PROGRAM ... 24 sec. 9 sec. 

BLOAD LANGUAGE CARD 13 sec 4 sec. 

(Text Files: No Change) 
Boot the Pronto disk or your updated disks, created 

with the normal INIT command. Compatible with all I < Visa/MasterCard or COD. call TOLL-FREE 
DOS Commands, GPLE, Double-Take, DOS Boss, | < Orders only / ALL 50 STATES / 24 Hours a Day 
DiskQuik and almost all unprotected programs m^M OZ\/\ 00/\S\ 
MOVE DOS to your Language Card, RAM Card, ■£ 1"800-ZZ7-3o00 ext. 1607 

or standard Apple lie upper 16K, freeing up 10,000 
EXTRA BYTES of memory for your programs 
15 EXTRA SECTORS per disk. Catalog Free- 
Space displayed every time you catalog a disk 
TYPE-COMMAND ("TYPE filename") prints con- 
tents of sequential Text Files on screen or printer. 




OR mail U S Check. Money-Order or Visa MC« 

to BEAGLE BROS 7th Floor 
4315 SIERRA VISTA. SAN DIEGO. CA 92103 

Add S1 50 First Class Shipping Any-Size Ordor 
Overseas add S4 00 COD add S3 00 California add 6".. 
ALL ORDERS SHIPPED IMMEDIATELY 



ISCRG 



SWITCH-A-SLOT 




The SWITCH-A-SLOT is an expansion chassis, which 
allows theusertopluginuptofourpenpheralcardsatone 
time One of these cards is selected for use, and only that 
card draws power. 

This product is especially useful where the software 
requires the printer to be in a particular slot, and the user 
wishes to choose between two or more printers. 

• Allows up to four peripheral cards to be plugged into one 
peripheral slot 

• User selects desired card by front panel rotary switch 

• Only selected card draws power 

• Plugs into any peripheral slot, 

• Saves wear and tear on delicate connectors 

• 18" cable connects Switch-a-slot to computer 

New— resistive terminations lor better response 



$179.50 

V 



36 "Cable $189.50 



SWITCH-A-SLOT and EXTEND- A-SLOT work 
well with all slow to medium speed cards, 
such as Modems, Printers, Clock, 80 Column, 
Music, etc. They are not recommended for 
high speed data transfer devices such as disk 
drive controllers, alternate processor, and 
memory cards. These products maybe incom- 
patible with some alternate processor cards. 

EXTEND-A-SLOT 




The EXTEND-A-SLOT brings a slot outside your 
APPLE 1 ", allowing an easy change of cards The 18" flex 
cable is long enough to allow placement of the card in a 
convenient location The high quality connectors are 
gold plated for reliability. 

The perfect accessory for: 
Owners of large numbers of I/O expansion cards — 
keep your frequently used cards installed Use the 
EXTEND-A-SLOT for the others 
Technicians— easy access to test points on accessory 
cards under actual operating conditions 
Experimenters— make easy changes to cards while 
card is installed 
EASY TO USE— just plug it in as you would any 
expansion card, then plug your card in When you want to 
change cards, do it easily outside the computer, without 
the wear and tear on the computer expansion slot 



$34.95 



NEW PRODUCT- 



quikLoader 




Designed by Jim Sather 

SPEED 

The quikLoader is the fastest way to load programs. 
BAR NONE! Applesoft, Integer, or machine language 
programs can be loaded in fractions of a second. 
More importantly, DOS is instantly loaded every time 
the computer is turned on. Integer is even loaded in 
the language card. This process takes less than a 
second, saving valuabletimeThe quikLoader operat- 
ing system can keep track of over 250 programs 
stored in PROMs (Programmable Read Only Memory). 
The user simply transfers any of these programs to 
PROM using the instructions packed with the unit, 
and any PROM programmer, or we will provide this 
service. 

CONVENIENCE 

How many times have you started to work with a 
frequently used program, only to find that you have 
misplaced the disk, or worse, had the disk damaged, 
or the dreaded "I/O ERROR" message flash on the 
screen. With the quikLoader, these nightmares can 
be a thing of the past. Frequently used programs are 
available instantly when you need them, without 
having to look for the disk, or hoping that the lengthy 
disk loading procedure goes smoothly. If you do need 
to use standard disks, the quikLoader even speeds up 
that process. Forexample. to catalog a disk, |ust press 
ctrl-C Reset. To run the "HELLO" program, press crtl- 
H Reset Other "one-key" commands include entering 
the monitor, booting the disk, calling up the mini- 
assembler, etc. The major difference between the 



quikLoader and the other ROM cards is the complete 
operating system (in PROM). This enables you to get 
the quikLoader catalog on the screen (by pressing 
ctrl-Q Reset), allowing you to see what programs are 
available Loading or running of the desired program 
requires one keypress. Program parameters, such as 
starting address and length of machine language 
programs can be seen on the catalog screen, if 
desired. 
VERSATILE 

The quikLoader will accept any of the popular PROMS 
available on the market. 2716. 2732, 2764, 27128 
and 27256. These types may be freely intermixed on 
the card. Long programs can take up more than one 
PROM, or several short prpgrams may be stored on 
one PROM, The quikLoader operating system even 
handles multiple cards, so you can easily double or 
triple the amount of PROM memory available. The 
ultimate memory capacity of one card is 256K, so 
many frequently used programs and utilities can be 
stored. We even start your library of programs with 
the most popular utilities on the card, FID and 
COPYA. Now, if you have to copy a disk, you don't 
have to search for the master disk. You can start 
copying within 3 seconds after turning on the 
computer. 

INCREASED DISK CAPACITY 

Since DOS is loaded from the quikLoader every time 
the computer is turned on. it is not necessary to take 
up valuable disk space with DOS. This will give you 
more than 10% additional space for programs and 
data on your disks. 
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS 

The quikLoader plugs into any slot of the APPLE ] (+ 
or He. If used in a ) [+, a slightly modified 1 6K 
memory card is required in slot 0. A disk drive is 
required to save data. 

$179.50 

DOS. INTEGER BASIC, FID and COPYA are copyrighted programs of APPLE 
COMPUTER, INC. licensed to Southern California Research Group to 
distribute for use only in combination with quikLoader 

NOW AVAILABLE: Beagle Bros, double-take lor 
quikLoader. More programs coming toon. 



Paddle-Adapple 



GAME I/O ADAPTOR and EXTENDER 

^ i 6 Psrjrjle ArJspple 




Works with all Apple compatible joysticks, paddles and 

other I/O devices 

Select one of two devices or . 

Use 4 paddles simultaneously 

Unique "Jumpers" socket allows you to configure to 
meet your needs 

BPI'" users can have BPI'" device and paddles plugged in 
simultaneously (Paddle-Adapple and Paddle-Adapple 
Combo only) 

Gives you four push-button inputs 
Supports shift key modification. 
Exchange X & Y |oystick axis. 

Small and compact — adheres to computer with 
supplied foam tape 

All Strobes, annunciators and power available on all 16 
pin connectors 

^upphedwit^^8^cable^^^^ 



The Paddle-Adapple has two 16 pin sockets 

The Paddle-Adapple "D" works with the subminiature D 

connectors. 

The Paddle-Adapple Combo has one 1 6 pin socket and 
one subminiature D connector. 



$29.95 



D MAnual controller 

This hardware product gives the user complete control over all I/O 
functions in the range SCOOO through SCOFF For example, you 
may switch between text and graphics: hi-res and low-res; turn 
disk drive on and oH, etc 

D MAnual controller allows all this while programs are running. 
Commands can be issued (via push-buttons) m the middle of a 
program, and the desired result occurs immediately The process 
used (known as CYCLE STEALING} allows immediate execution of 
these commands without interfering with the normal operation of 
the program The card is slot independent, and is connected to a 
control panel by a four foot cable 

$89.50 



See us at Chicago Userfest, May 3-6, and Denver Softwest, May 22-24 

SIX MONTH WARRANTY • TEN DAY RETURN PRIVILEGE Available at your local dealer or direct from: 

TOLL-FREE ORDER LINES SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RESEARCH GROUP 

in CA (800) 821-0774 Post Office Box 2231 -S Add $2.50 for shipping, 

(800) 635-8310 Goleta, CA 93118 



all other states (Including AK. HI. VI. & PR) 
Information & technical questions (805) 685-1931 



$5.00 outside U.S.A. & 
(805) 685-1931 Canada, CA add tax. 

VISA, MASTERCARD accepted apple is a traaemark ot apple computer. inc 



1AY 1984 



151 




Mac Sits Junior in the Corner 



Mac is rather upset with Lisa. Seems he 
thinks she's been two-timing him . . . 
something about appearing at Maxwell's Apple 
with some character named Unix. 

What? Mac'n'Lisa's not a soap opera? Real- 
ly must change that title. How does 32-Bit 
sound? (Just don't drop the "3," folks. 
Wouldn't be good to be known as a two-bit 
editor.) 

Actually, Mac should be pretty happy. He's 
been absolutely creaming the competition. Of 
course, when the press sets up as your competi- 
tion a sawed-off chunk of metal depending on 
its father's reputation, with a keyboard that 
looks like someone put it together with parts 
from a chewing gum box, it's no real achieve- 
ment to knock its socks off. 

Seriously, though, this whole routine of the 
press— and here we're speaking of the popular 
press, meaning Newsweek, Time, local 
newspapers, and the like— setting up the PCjr as 
Mac's competition is ... a little odd. In terms 
of both capabilities and price, the reasonable 
comparison is between Mac and the full-size 
PC. In fact, the principal reason the press is 
stacking Mac up against Junior is that the two 
machines were introduced at approximately the 
same time. 

There is, however, a soupcon of sense in 
comparing Junior with Mac: Both machines 
have as one of their marketing targets the home 
user. Junior, which has been highly— and 
somewhat erroneously— touted as being com- 
patible with the full-size PC, is expected to be 
used widely by businesspeople working at 
home. Which is amusing, considering that the 
business types have been passing up Junior 
because it— and its keyboard— looks (and feels) 
like a toy. On the other hand, early indications 



are that the Fortune 500 types— a market that 
Apple professes Mac is not pursuing at this 
time— are giving Mac serious consideration. 
They're even buying some. Peat, Marwick, 
Mitchell and Company, a nationwide account- 
ing firm (you can't get any more pin-striped 
than that), has ordered 3,500 machines; 
Businessland (guess what market they concen- 
trate on) is adding Mac and Lisa to its catalog, 
as is Genra; and it looks as though Com- 
puterLand and Sears (the two prime retailers of 
the IBM PC) may be joining the Mac camp. 

If you haven't guessed it by now, Mac is 
selling like hot cakes, Junior is selling like flop 
cakes. Many Mac dealers are quoting four- 
month delivery times and have back orders of 
close to a hundred machines, which makes Ap- 
ple's projected first-year sales of 350,000 to 
half a million look not only possible, but likely. 
(Especially considering that those early sales 
are coming in the face of little currently 
available software, no second disk, and only 
128K of memory.) Mac's popularity is already 
starting to buoy Lisa sales, and the next thing 
the press is going to start arguing is whether 
Mac can successfully tackle the PC itself. A 
silly question, because it's already doing just 
that. 

Some of the students who've been fortunate 
enough to purchase Macs under Apple's Apple 
University Consortium plan, which lets a col- 
lege purchase Macs in volume at deep discounts 
for resale to their students (or faculty), have 
been causing a big brouhaha by reselling the 
machines at a healthy profit. Some of the buyers 
have themselves been retailers. It's not so much 
that the machines purchased through the univer- 
sity connection are necessarily cheaper than the 
dealers can get them from Apple, just that they 



are available now. Both Apple and the colleges 
are highly unimpressed with this ad hoc adven- 
ture in capitalism, so it's likely that the practice 
will at least go underground, if it can't be 
stopped altogether. 

Tech Corner. Don't say you weren't warned: 
Last month's Tech Corner started with the 
caveat: for pioneers only— no calls if it doesn't 
work. 

Ah, such prescience. If you tried it — making a 
cable to connect your Mac to a standard mo- 
dem — you by now know that ... it didn't 
work. Seems the polarity of the data was re- 
versed: You want to pick off pins 5 and 9 from 
the Mac phone connector, not pins 4 and 8 as in- 
dicated. With that done, the cable will work just 
fine— we actually got off our duffs and built 
one, so we know whereof we speak. Incidental- 
ly, if you've purchased one of the new Apple 
modems, you can find a Mac -to- Apple modem 
cable diagram in the May issue of ST. Mac, Sof- 
talk's sister publication dedicated to Mac 
and Lisa. 

While we're on the subject of other publica- 
tions about Mac, there are four books already 
out. From Doug Clapp has come Macintosh! 
Complete, published by none other than Softalk 
Books, and from Cary Lu, via Microsoft Press, 
The Apple Macintosh Book, dilithium Press has 
chipped in with Presenting the Mac, by Merl 
Miller and Mary Myers, and Edward Connolly 
and Philip Lieberman have put together In- 
troducing the Apple Macintosh, from Howard 
W. Sams. None of the books is particularly 
technical, but all should appease a heavy Mac 
attack for at least a while. Clapp's book is of 
course our favorite, but then we're prejudiced. 
Maybe. Lu's is also excellent, though not quite 
as witty. Buy all four and decide for yourself. JM 




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The File-Related BDOS Functions 



Welcome to the May edition of Softcard Symposium. In March's col- 
umn, we set the stage for the examination of the final set of BDOS func- 
tion calls by discussing the structure of disk-file access under CP/M. We 
are now, therefore, ready to proceed with the BDOS functions related to 
the handling of disk files. In February's column we displayed all twenty- 
five of the disk functions and then separated out those that were not file- 
related. This month, we'll display only the sixteen file-related functions, 
as shown in figure 1. Note that they are not in numerical order. Also, 
since most of those functions are simple to implement, we'll hold off on 
showing the subroutine library additions until our discussion is complete. 

The first function in our list is set DMA address: 



BDOS function no: 
Function name: 
Function purpose: 
Entry parameters: 

Exit parameters: 



26 

Set DMA address 

Set the memory address for disk I/O 

[C] = 1AH 

[DE] = DMA address 

none 



To refresh our memories (no pun intended), the term DMA stands for 
direct memory access. It usually describes hardware that can fill memory 
with data from some outside source (usually a disk) or take data direcdy 
from memory and send it to an outside source — all this without involving 
the processor at all. The hardware technicalities of this are beyond the 
scope of this column; suffice it to say that DMA hardware allows the 
processor to be more efficient, since it frees the processor to carry on 
other activities during disk or peripheral accesses. 

In systems without DMA hardware, the term DMA has no formal 
meaning. However, it has taken on a slang meaning in CP/M that has, 
over time, acquired the status of a permanent definition. DMA in CP/M 
has come to mean the starting address of the block of memory that will be 
filled with data from disk, or from which data is taken to be written to 
disk. Recognize that the DMA address is the single address at which this 
process will start. The other 127 addresses within this block of memory 
are unimportant. CP/M (BDOS and BIOS) will take care of any incre- 
menting of addresses necessary to fill the entire block. 

BDOS keeps track of the current DMA address using a memory loca- 
tion inside itself. When the system is booted, the DMA address is ini- 
tialized to an address of 0080H (the location of the default buffer in the 
system data page). The DMA address is changed almost constantiy by 
the CCP and other utility programs as they fdl and copy memory with 
disk reads and writes. However, it is usually returned to the default loca- 
tion (0080H) when a program exits, and it is always returned there at the 
completion of any operation of the CCP. 

In normal operation, function 26 is only used when reading and writ- 
ing large blocks of data— such as are present when a fde (or large portion 
of a fde) is being moved between memory and the disk. The standard 
practice in such cases is to initialize the DMA address to the starting ad- 
dress of your memory buffer and save it. Then, at the completion of each 
successful disk read or write, the old address is restored, 128 bytes are 
added to increment it beyond the last data used, and function 26 is called 
to inform BDOS. This is required no matter which form of access- 
random or sequential— is being used. 

The alternate method of reading or writing large data blocks is to use 



the default DMA buffer (0080H) for all reads and writes and simply to 
move the data between the default DMA buffer and your own memory 
buffer 128 bytes at a time. But because of the additional work this 
scheme requires of the processor (in moving all this data), this method is 
much less efficient. 

In your own programming, you must always be aware of the current 
DMA location. Since there's no function to inform you of the current 
location, it's always advisable to take the safe route — explicitly setting 
the DMA address before performing disk access and then keeping track 
of its location as you alter it. So long as your program is running without 
interruption, the DMA address will be altered only if your program calls 
function 26. No other action of BDOS or your program can reset it. 



Function Name 



Operation 



26. Set DMA address 

17. Search first 

18. Search next 

22. Make file 

1 9. Delete file 

23. Rename file 

30. Set attributes 



15. Open file 

16. Close file 

20. Read sequential 



21 . Write sequential 



33. 
34. 
40. 

35. 
36. 



Read random 

Write random 

Write random 
with zero fill 

Compute size 

Set random rec. 



Establishes the starting address in memory 
from which the next record will be written 
to disk or to which the next sector will be 
read from disk 

Finds a directory entry corresponding to 
the specified FCB 

Finds subsequent entries corresponding to 
the specified FCB 

Creates a new disk file by creating a 
directory entry corresponding to the 
specified FCB 

Deactivates all directory entries 
corresponding to the specified FCB 
Changes the name of all directory entries 
corresponding to the first sixteen bytes of 
the FCB to the name contained in the 
second sixteen bytes of the FCB 
Sets the requested attribute (SYS-DIR 
and R/O-R/W) for a particular file (also 
changes any other parity bits requested) 
Activates an FCB for the disk file 
Deactivates an FCB for a previously open 
disk file 

Obtains one record from the file identified 
by the activated FCB— record is CR from 
extent EX 

Sends one record to the file identified by 
the activated FCB— record is CR in extent 
EX 

Obtains one record from the file identified 
by the activated FCB— record is RL-RH 
Sends one record to the file identified by 
the activated FCB— record is RL-RH 
Essentially equivalent to function 34, 
except that unallocated blocks are filled 
with 0s prior to the write 
Obtains a value that is 1 beyond the highest 
numbered record in the file 
Computes the random record number 
and sets it in RL-RH in the FCB for the 
current values of EX and CR in the FCB 



Figure 1. File-related disk functions. 



154 



MAY 1984 



The next function we'll examine is search for first: 



BDOS function no: 
Function name: 
Function purpose: 

Entry parameters: 

Exit parameters: 



17 

Search for first 

Find the first directory entry matching 
the specified FCB 
[C] = 11H 

[DE] = FCB address 
[A] = directory code 



This function is the means by which the directory is examined. It is 
used by the CCP and by any CP/M program that searches for directory 
entries. In response to this call, BDOS scans the directory of a disk, 
starting with the first directory sector. It examines each entry in the di- 
rectory to find a match with the FCB whose address is contained in the 
[DE] register pair. (As we continue, refer to the March column for a 
description of the FCB and its fields.) 

The DR field of the FCB is not used for matching purposes, but in- 
stead determines which disk is to be searched. A drive number of from 1 
to 16 (drives A through P) causes that disk to be logged in and searched. 
If no drive is specified (a DR field value of 0), the currently logged disk 
is searched. 

A match occurs when bytes 1 through 12 (the F1-F8, T1-T3, and EX 
fields) and byte 14 (DM) of the directory entry are equal to the same 
bytes in the FCB. BDOS continues comparing entries to the FCB until a 
match is found or until there are no more entries to be compared. Note 
that byte 13 (SI) is not used for comparison purposes and that BDOS 
automatically zeros the DM field of your FCB during this function. A 
question mark in any character position of the F1-F8, T1-T3, or EX 
fields in your FCB will cause an automatic match with any value in that 
same position in the directory entry. 

Normally, only active (nondeleted) directory entries that are in the 
current user area will be matched; however, a question mark in byte 0 of 
your FCB (the DR field) will remove these restrictions. Setting DR to a 
question mark also disables the auto disk select function and specifies 
that only the currently logged drive is eligible to be searched. Further, 
when DR contains a question mark, the DM field is not set to 0. Using 
the wildcard character in DR, then, has the effect of identifying any di- 
rectory entry that matches the remaining fields, including deleted files 
and files in any user area. This capability can be of special value in pro- 
grams that create disk usage maps for the currently logged drive. 

Function 17 returns a OFFH in register [AJ if no match was made 
between your FCB and any directory entry. If there was a match, how- 
ever, BDOS returns a value from 0 to 3, which is called a directory code. 
The directory code is more than just an indication that a match occurred. 
It is used to access the actual directory information in the matched entry. 

When a match is made, BDOS places the logical directory sector (128 
bytes) in which the entry was found at the current DMA address. The di- 
rectory code is the relative position of the directory entry within that 
logical sector— there are four entries in each sector and four possible di- 
rectory code values. A code of 0 indicates the first entry, a 1 means the 
second entry, and so on. Since each directory entry is thirty-two bytes 
long, it is relatively simple to locate the entry; you just multiply the di- 
rectory code by 32 and add the result to the current DMA address. At 
that point, any information within the entry can be extracted and put to use. 

The next function to look at is search for next: 



BDOS function no: 
Function name: 
Function purpose: 

Entry parameters: 

Exit parameters: 



18 

Search for next 

Find any subsequent directory entry 
matching the FCB 
[C] = 12H 

[DE] = FCB address 
[A] = directory code 



This function is identical to search for first except that BDOS starts 
with the directory sector in which the last match was found and continues 
to search for further matches. As a result, the two functions are always 
used in combination— function 17 to have BDOS start at the beginning of 
the directory (or find a single file), and function 18 to continue to search 
for additional files matching the FCB. 

Most general-purpose directory programs use a file reference con- 
sisting entirely of wildcard characters (???????????), with EX equal to 0. 
In this way, a match is made with the first extent of any file encountered. 



Continuing the search with function 18 allows a complete list of all active 
files in a given user area to be made. Directory programs that calculate 
file space used can set EX to a question mark as well and then search for 
all extents of each file. When the list is complete, the extent number and 
the RC field of the final extent can be used to calculate the record count 
for each file. 

The next function is makefile: 

BDOS function no: 22 

Function name: Make file 
Function purpose: Create a new directory entry from FCB 
Entry parameters: [C] = 16H 

[DE] = FCB address 

Exit parameters: [A] = directory code 

This function is used to create a new file on disk. Specifically, BDOS 
uses the FCB, whose address is passed in the [DE] register pair, to create 
a directory entry on the drive specified or on the logged drive if none is 
specified. Since the directory entry is being created strictly from the 
FCB, no wildcard characters (question marks) are allowed in the DR, 
F1-F8, T1-T3, or EX fields for this function. 

During the performance of this function, BDOS won't exclude dupli- 
cate entries. Consequently, the programmer must make sure that the file 
being created does not duplicate a file already in the directory of the disk. 
To be absolutely safe, a delete-file function call can be made prior to the 
make-file function call to ensure that any existing file with these at- 
tributes is removed. 

Finally, BDOS initializes all values in the new entry (and the FCB 
used to create it) to those of an empty extent (EX=0, RC=0, and so 
on). This process of filling in the FCB from the directory entry is iden- 
tical to opening the file, so an open-file function call is not required when 
the make file function is used. BDOS returns the directory code of from 0 
to 3 in register [A] if the operation is successful, or a value of OFFH in 
[A] if no more directory space remained on the disk. 

The next function to examine is delete file: 



BDOS function no: 
Function name: 
Function purpose: 
Entry parameters: 

Exit parameters: 



19 

Delete file 

Deactivate the file named by the FCB 
[C] = 13H 

[DE] = FCB address 
[A] = directory code 



Although the name of this function is delete file, it does not delete the 
file in the true sense of the word. Instead, it deactivates all extents of the 
named file and returns the space they occupy to unallocated status. In this 
way, the space is made available for new storage. 

In response to this function, BDOS performs a search of the directory 
of the drive specified in the FCB or of the logged drive if none is 
specified. All directory entries that match the F1-F8 and T1-T3 fields of 
the referenced FCB are deactivated. This is accomplished by setting the 
first byte of each entry (the field containing the user number) to a value 
of 0E5H. Such a value in this byte of any directory entry causes BDOS to 
assume the entry is empty in any future access. As a result, BDOS won't 
attempt to match these entries in any future directory searches and will 
use them whenever new extents must be created. 

The FCB used for function 19 may have wildcard characters in any of 
the F1-F8 and T1-T3 character positions. This makes it possible to 
delete groups of files with a single function call. The DR field, however, 
may not contain a question mark character and must indicate either the 
drive to be searched or the logged drive (DR=0). If the operation is suc- 
cessful, the [A] register contains the standard directory code seen earlier. 
If no file is found that corresponds to the referenced FCB, a value of 
OFFH is returned in [A]. 

The next function we'll examine is rename file: 



BDOS function no: 
Function name: 
Function purpose: 
Entry parameters: 

Exit parameters: 



23 

Rename file 

Alter the name of a referenced file 

[C] = 17H 

[DE] = FCB address 

[A] = directory code 



This function is used to change the name (fields F1-F8 and T1-T3) of 
a given file. To accomplish this, function 23 uses a special sort of FCB. 



MAY 1984 



WU I Al V 



155 



The first sixteen bytes of the FCB contain the file's current name, while 
the second sixteen bytes contain the name your program is changing it to. 
During the operation of this function, all extents in the directory that 
match the current name fields in the FCB will be altered. 

The DR field in the first sixteen bytes specifies the drive on which the 
action is to take place, just as it has with previous functions. The DR 
field in the second sixteen bytes is not used, however, and should be set 
to 0 by your program. A successful rename returns the standard direc- 
tory code in [A], while a OFFH is returned in [A] if no occurrence of the 
original file could be found. 

The next function to examine is set file attributes : 



BDOS function no: 
Function name: 
Function purpose: 
Entry parameters: 

Exit parameters: 



30 

Set file attributes 

Set R/O-R/W and DIR-SYS status 

[C] = 1 EH 

[DE] = FCB address 

[A] = directory code 



The set file attributes function is the means by which the read/only and 
read/write attributes are set or cleared for a particular file. As we dis- 
cussed last time, these attributes are controlled by the parity bits of the 
filetype characters Tl and T2 respectively; bit 7 is set if the attributes are 
active and reset if the attributes are inactive. 

To use this function, your program simply creates an FCB (no 
wildcard characters allowed), with the desired bits set or reset as appro- 
priate, and invokes the function. BDOS will respond by searching the in- 
dicated disk directory for matches with the specified FCB. The parity 
bits of the characters, however, will not be used for matching purposes. 
As each match is found, BDOS copies the parity bits of the F1-F8 and 
T1-T3 fields into the directory entry from your FCB. Once again, a di- 
rectory code is returned in [A] if the operation was successful, while a 
OFFH is returned if the referenced file could not be found. 

Note that the parity bits of any of the F1-F8 and T1-T3 characters 
can be changed using this function. However, only the first four charac- 
ters of the filename and the first two characters of the filetype should be 
altered. Although the remaining five are currently undefined, they are 
used by BDOS for matching purposes during directory searches. Conse- 
quently, since standard utilities do not set them, the result of changing 
these characters could be files that cannot be accessed using normal 
methods. 

The next function we'll examine is open file: 



BDOS function no: 
Function name: 
Function purpose: 
Entry parameters: 

Exit parameters: 



15 

Open file 

Activate the FCB for the named file 
[C] = OFH 

[DE] = FCB address 
[A] = directory code 



As we alluded to in examining the make file function, opening a file 
involves activating an in-memory FCB describing it. Function 15, 
therefore, first causes BDOS to attempt to find a directory entry on the 
specified or logged disk that matches the F1-F8, T1-T3, and EX fields 
of the referenced FCB. If a match is found, BDOS then activates the 
FCB by filling in its missing information (DM, RC, and BA-BP). Once 
this has been done, BDOS can access the file correctly using the now ac- 
tive FCB. 

Note that during the performance of this function the extent field of 
the FCB is used for matching purposes, making it possible to open each 
extent of a file individually. You'll recall from our discussion in the 
March column that different extents of a file are almost like separate files 
in themselves. Each extent must be opened before it can be accessed. 
Under normal circumstances, BDOS itself takes care of closing the cur- 
rent extent and opening a new one automatically. If, however, you're 
performing some or all of these operations manually in your program, 
you must be constantly aware of the extent in use and perform the 
necessary open and close operations. 

During the open file function, wildcard characters are allowed in the 
F1-F8, T1-T3, and EX fields and will cause the first matching file to be 
opened. It is difficult, however, to see the value in opening a file whose 
name you do not know. In such a case, the FCB would be activated from 
the first directory entry matching the partial FCB. Missing informa- 
tion in name fields would be filled in too. Use this feature with caution. 



At the successful completion of function 15, the directory code corre- 
sponding to the now open file is returned in register [A]. If no matching 
file exists in the directory, a value of OFFH is returned in [A| to indicate 
the error. Of course, if no match is made, no alteration of the FCB fields 
occurs. 

It cannot be stressed too often that a file must not be accessed for 
read/write operations until either a successful open file operation or a 
make file operation has been performed to activate the FCB. One addi- 
tional word of warning: BDOS also initializes other data locations within 
itself in response to the open-file and make-file function calls. Simply 
setting up the FCB with all information, therefore, is not sufficient when 
you wish to begin read/ write access. 

The next function is close file : 



BDOS function no: 
Function name: 
Function purpose: 
Entry parameters: 

Exit parameters: 



16 

Close file 

Deactivate the FCB for the named file 
[C] = 10H 

[DE] = FCB address 
[A] = directory code 



The close file function is the opposite of the open function. When the 
close file function is issued, the referenced FCB is used to update the ap- 
propriate directory entry on the disk with any altered information and 
status. The FCB must have been activated with a prior open-file or make- 
file function call. As was so with the open function, question marks may 
be used here in the name and extent fields. The returned values for the 
close file function are the same as most that we've looked at so far; [A] 
contains a directory code if the operation was successful or a OFFH if the 
referenced file could not be found. 

Since the purpose of the close file function is to update the directory 
entry from the FCB, it's mandatory to make this call whenever a file has 
been written to. In this way, new blocks that have been allocated in the 
block list (the BA-BP fields) and new records added to the record count 
(the RC field) will be permanently recorded. Although Digital Research 




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MAY 1984 



indicates that the close function is not necessary when nothing but read 
operations have been performed on the file, the safest way to handle files 
in your programs is always to close open files, regardless of what action 
has been performed on them. 

The next function to look at is read sequential: 

BDOS function no: 20 

Function name: Read sequential 
Function purpose: Read CR from the file named in FCB 
Entry parameters: [C] = 14H 

[DE] = FCB address 
Exit parameters: [A] = error code 

This function causes a 128-byte record of the referenced disk file to 
be transferred from disk to memory at the current DMA address. The 
FCB whose address is passed in the [DE] register pair must have been 
activated by a previous make-file or open-file function call. At that point, 
all of the fields of the FCB except the record number fields CR (sequen- 
tial) and RL-RH (random) will have been initialized to the proper values 
for this extent of the file. All that remains, then, is for the record number 
field to be set to the required value and the function initiated. In response 
to function 20, BDOS will read the single 128-byte sector (CR) from the 
current extent number (EX) shown in the FCB. 

As we mentioned in March, this function is normally used to access a 
file sector-by-sector from the beginning. To use the function in this fash- 
ion, the programmer need only set the CR field to 0 before the first call. 
From then on, BDOS will automatically increment the CR field at the 
completion of each successful call to this function. If during this incre- 
menting process the CR field exceeds the total record count (RC), BDOS 
will close the current extent, increment the extent number (EX), and 
open the next extent. 

Since CR and EX are automatically updated after each read, function 
20 may be called repeatedly to read the remainder of the file with no fur- 
ther manipulation of the FCB. Since BDOS does not automatically adjust 
the DMA address the way it does CR and EX, if no other BDOS func- 
tions are used, then each logical sector that is read will overwrite in 



memory the sector previously read. This approach gives the program ac- 
cess to each new sector at the same memory address. 

If, on the other hand, it's necessary for more than one sector to reside 
in memory at the same time — as it is when an entire file is being read in, 
for example — the DMA address must be set to a value 128 bytes beyond 
its current value, using the set DMA function (see function 26). 

Function 20 informs the program of a successful read operation by 
returning a 0 value in the [A] register. If, however, the end-of-file was 
encountered before the read could begin, or if some type of fatal disk er- 
ror (bad sector, bad seek, or whatever) took place, then a nonzero value 
will be returned in register [A] to inform the program that no valid data 
was transferred during this function call. 

The next function we'll examine is write sequential: 

BDOS function no: 21 

Function name: Write sequential 
Function purpose: Write CR to the file named in FCB 
Entry parameters: [C] = 15H 

[DE] = FCB address 
Exit parameters: [A] = error code 

This function is very similar to read sequential, except that data is be- 
ing transferred in the opposite direction— from memory to disk. Just as 
with the read function, the FCB must be activated by an open-file or 
make-file function call and the CR field must be set to the required rec- 
ord number before the function is initiated. When called to perform func- 
tion 21, BDOS will transfer a single 128-byte record from the current 
DMA address to disk as record number CR in extent number EX of the 
file referenced in the FCB. If the file, extent, and record already exist on 
the disk, the new data taken from memory will simply overwrite the old 
data at that record position. 

Since it is a sequential operation, function 21 is normally used to 
write records in numerical order from the beginning of the file. To aid 
this process, CR and EX are automatically updated and extents closed 
and opened as necessary at the successful completion of this call. To 
write sequential records repeatedly from the same memory area, there- 
fore, requires only that the program repeatedly call this function, ensur- 
ing that the correct data to be written is in the memory area at the current 
DMA address before each call. Neither further manipulation of the FCB 
nor additional BDOS function calls are required. 

Alternately, when large blocks of data that exist contiguously in 
memory are to be written, the DMA address may be set to the start of the 
block before the first write and then adjusted by 128 bytes prior to each 
new write (see function 26). 

The function informs the program of a successful write by returning a 
0 in register [A]. An error condition, such as a full disk or a physical disk 
error, is reported by returning a nonzero value in [A] . It is very impor- 
tant to remember that regardless of the sequence of events, the close file 
function must be called when your program has completed its write oper- 
ations so that the directory will be properly updated. 

The next function we'll examine is read random: 

BDOS function no: 33 

Function name: Read random 
Function purpose: Read RCR from the file named in FCB 
Entry parameters: [C] = 21 H 

[DE] = FCB address 
Exit parameters: [A] = error code 

The read random function causes BDOS to transfer a single 128-byte 
record from disk to memory. The data comes from the file named in the 
activated FCB referenced by [DE] and is placed in memory starting at 
the current DMA address. So far, it appears that this function is very 
similar to read sequential, but here's where the similarity ends. 

The record that is brought from disk during this function is no longer 
identified by the program using CR and EX. Rather, it is established by 
the three bytes of the FCB specified as the RL, RM, and RH fields. Dur- 
ing normal access, only fields RL and RM are used, since all random 
record numbers from the smallest (0) to the largest (65535) can be repre- 
sented in just two bytes. RH, therefore, indicates overflow beyond the 
highest valid record, and as such is reserved as an error flag for BDOS 
(and occasionally even for our programs, as we'll see when we discuss 
function 35). 

As reflected by the fact that CR and EX are no longer used by the 



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no.i 

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program, random access of the file requires no reference to extents, 
records within extents, and so on. Instead, the file is treated as one large 
collection of records and the program simply calculates the record 
number to read from among the 65,535 possible. This difference in access 
method allows complete freedom in file access— any record in the file 
may be accessed in any order whatsoever simply by setting RL and RM 
to the record number and calling this function. All calculation and search 
is handled by BDOS. 

It should be pointed out that random access of a file using system calls 
is not the same as random access in a high-level language such as Basic. 
There is, for example, no difference in the length and format of in- 
dividual file records. File records are still 128 bytes in length and still 
have an associated extent number (EX) and record number within the ex- 
tent (CR). The only difference between random and sequential usage 
with system calls is strictly in the method of access— records that have 
been written randomly may be read sequentially and vice versa. 

In actuality, BDOS eventually operates in sequential mode when per- 
forming this function. It uses the value supplied in RL and RM to calcu- 
late EX and CR values for this record. Using these, it can open the prop- 
er extent and read the record number within that extent that corresponds 
to the random record number requested. It would be possible for a pro- 
grammer to duplicate the actions of BDOS in this case, performing the 
calculations of EX and CR and the opening and closing of various extents 
manually. This would produce the same random-access effect, but since 
BDOS is willing to do all this automatically there isn't much advantage in 
doing it yourself. 

Although a successful random read is reported by returning a 0 in the 
[A] register (just the way it's done with sequential reads), BDOS reports 
errors that occur during random access differently than it reports sequen- 
tial access errors— the main difference being that there are several more 
error codes. In the interest of completeness, we will show the extra error 
codes here, but in reality, your programs can treat any nonzero returned 
value as an unwritten record error and still be ninety-nine percent accu- 
rate most of the time. In any case, there are four possible codes that can 
be returned if an error is encountered during random read operations: 

01— Reading unwritten data 

03— Cannot close current extent 

04— Seek requested to unwritten extent 
06— Seek requested past physical end of disk 

These codes are fairly straightforward. An error code of 01 is 
returned when the extent calculated from RL-RM exists but the specific 
record calculated within that extent was never written to the file. In 
short, this means that the program tried to read one of the empty records 
that can exist in a file created by random access. This is the most com- 
mon of the possible errors, and the one that your program can probably 
assume for any nonzero value. Error code 04, on the other hand, in- 
dicates that even the extent calculated from RL-RM has never been 
created in this file. Although it is a different type of error, in almost 
every sense, it means the same thing— no such record was ever written in 
this file. 

Error code 03 does not result from a problem with the record request- 
ed. Instead, it deals with a previous operation. It results from the fact that 
BDOS had to close an existing open extent (perhaps updating the direc- 
tory) before it could open the new extent requested. Sometime during the 
process of closing the extent an error, usually a physical disk error, oc- 
curred. Since data may have been lost, and since something is obviously 
wrong, BDOS proceeds no further with the new operation and returns an 
error code to indicate trouble. 

Last we have error code 06, shown as "seek requested past physical 
end of disk." That description is somewhat misleading when applied to 
random reads because it's practically impossible to attempt a read 
beyond the end of the disk. This is so because the read operation uses 
only the information compiled during writes to calculate disk sectors to 
read. Consequently, the read operation will never try to read something 
that was not previously written. Since no write will have taken place be- 
yond the physical end of disk, there is no way to get this type of error 
during reads. Instead, error code 06 is used during reads to show that the 
RH field of the FCB is nonzero, meaning that a random record that ex- 
ceeds the maximum allowed (65,535) has been requested. This usually 
means the programmer was not careful about always setting this field of 
the FCB to 0. 



MAY 1984 



sumn 



159 



A final point— although as mentioned earlier, BDOS calculates and 
sets the values of EX and CR in the FCB, it does not increment them at 
the end of successful random reads the way it does at the end of success- 
ful sequential reads. Neither does it increment the values of RL-RM. 
Reading a series of records in random mode, then, means that you must 
manually increment the random record number and place the new values 
into RL and RM yourself. 

Also, when switching from random mode to sequential mode, the 
program should repeat the last read in sequential mode so that CR (and, 
if necessary, EX) are automatically incremented before proceeding. Al- 
though you can increment CR manually before proceeding with sequen- 
tial access, you must recognize that this will not tell you if the current ex- 
tent has been exceeded. You will, therefore, have to test CR to see if it 
has exceeded 7FH; and if it has, you will have to handle the closing of 
the current extent, incrementing EX, and opening the new extent 
yourself. It is simplest just to repeat the read and let BDOS handle the rest. 

The next function to look at is write random: 

BDOS function no: 34 

Function name: Write random 
Function purpose: Write RCR from the file named in the FCB 
Entry parameters: [C] = 22H 

[DE] = FCB address 

Exit parameters: [A] = error code 

This function is exactly like read random except that the data is being 
written to disk from the current DMA address. Once again, BDOS uses 
the value contained in RL and RM to calculate the EX and CR values for 
this record. BDOS handles all closing and opening of extents required 
and, in addition, takes care of allocating new blocks to the file as needed. 

Like read random, BDOS sets the EX and CR fields in the FCB to 
new values each time this function is called, but no incrementing of these 
or the RL-RM values takes place. Therefore, all the important points 
discussed under read random apply here as well. 

If the write is successful, a 0 is returned in register [A], while an un- 
successful write returns an error code. The possible error codes for ran- 
dom write are 03, 05, and 06. The 03 and 06 codes have the same mean- 
ing as they do in random read operations, while code 05 indicates that a 
new extent cannot be created because the disk directory is full. 

The next function is write random with zero fill: 

BDOS function no: 40 

Function name: Write random with zero fill 
Function purpose: Write RCR from the file named in the FCB and fill 

unallocated blocks with zeros 
Entry parameters: [C] = 28H 

[DE] = FCB address 
Exit parameters: [A] = error code 

This function is identical to the standard write random function ex- 
cept in one aspect. In cases where a new disk block is being allocated for 
the file, the entire block is filled with 0s before the record is written. This 
has the effect of eliminating old data that may have been left in these disk 
sectors. While on the surface this may not seem important, anyone who 
has had to reconstruct a file or otherwise manipulate one without know- 
ing exactly what valid data it contains will appreciate the idea of not hav- 
ing a collection of invalid leftover data mixed in with the good stuff. 

The next function is compute size: 

BDOS function no: 35 

Function name: Compute size of file 
Function purpose: Obtain highest record + 1 of the file 
Entry parameters: [C] = 23H 

[DE] = FCB address 

Exit parameters: RCR is set in FCB 

This function is used to find the size of a previously opened file on 
disk. The FCB referenced in the [DE] register pair specifies the disk (0 
or 1 through 16) and the file name to be tested. No wildcard characters 
may be used in the FCB and the random record fields (RL-RH) must be 
set to 0. BDOS locates all extents of the file and returns a value that is 
equal to the last valid record in the file plus 1 . (Note that since record 
numbers start with 0, this is the actual record count for the file.) 

The value returned by the compute size function is placed in the RL- 
RH fields. If field RH is nonzero after the completion of the function, 



this indicates that the highest possible record number (65,535) has already 
been written in this file. In such cases, the other two random record num- 
ber fields are meaningless. If, on the other hand, the RH field is 0 at the 
completion of the function, then the fields RL and RM contain a valid 
sixteen-bit record number indicating the next available (unwritten) rec- 
ord of the file. 

Although the function may be used on any file, it has its greatest 
value with files created sequentially— that is, files that have all records 
from beginning to end filled with data. With these files, the value 
returned is the correct size of the file in records. As we've seen, how- 
ever, files that have been created randomly may have gaps throughout. 
Indeed, it is even possible to write a file on an Apple disk that contains 
record 65535, provided that only a few records are written. This function 
is unable to tell whether the file contains gaps or is complete; conse- 
quently, the value reported for files with gaps won't be accurate. Instead, 
the value returned will be the number of records the file would contain if 
it were completely full. 

The compute size function is used for another purpose besides file- 
size calculation. Programmers often call it to find the end of a file in 
preparation for adding more material. Since the value returned by 
the function is the next available record, and since the RL-RH fields are 
set by BDOS, a random write operation can be performed immediately 
without altering the FCB at all. 

Using function 35 to extend a file in this manner is relatively simple. 
The first record to be added to the end of the file is moved into the DMA 
memory area (or the DMA address is altered to point to the data), and a 
random write function is called. Without altering the data (or the DMA 
address), the write is then repeated in sequential mode to adjust CR and 
EX automatically. From that point, any number of additional sequential 
writes may be made to complete the extension of the file. 

Obviously, using function 35 for this purpose is most useful with files 
created sequentially, since new records will usually be added at the end 
of the file. With random files, the programmer is nearly always follow- 
ing a numbering scheme of some kind that determines where additional 
records will be added; and these records usually won't be in sequence. 

The final function to be examined is set random record: 

BDOS function no: 36 

Function name: Set random record 
Function purpose: Compute RCR for given CR and EX 
Entry parameters: [C] = 24H 

[DE] = FCB address 

Exit parameters: RCR is set in FCB 

This function's purpose is to obtain the random record number for a 
given sequential record number (CR) and extent (EX) of the file. The 
standard practice is to perform sequential reads or writes of the file until 
the desired position is reached and then to call this function. When the 
function is complete, the RL and RM fields of the FCB will be set to the 
correct random record number for this CR and EX. Since this function 
only converts successfully read sequential record and extent numbers, 
there will never be a case when an invalid random record number (RH 
nonzero) is returned. 

According to Digital Research, the primary use of this function is 
with random files that are based on some type of key system. Such files 
contain easily recognizable key data at strategic points to separate one 
part of the file from another. To use the function with such files, one sup- 
posedly scans the entire file searching for the various keys. As each is found, 
function 36 is used to obtain the correct random record position corre- 
sponding to that key. Then when all keys have been identified, the pro- 
gram can go on to do all of its actual work on the file in random-access 
mode. This is certainly a valid way to use this function, but it is not the 
most efficient form of random access file usage. 

This completes our discussion of the functions. Now it is time to 
move on and incorporate these new system calls into our subroutine 
library. Figure 2 shows the new subroutines by themselves. As you 
can see, we have again made use of the skipping effect of the 
LD HL,nnnn opcode to preserve the [C] register as we cascade down 
the chain from whichever entry point we select. 

Since all the file functions but one (function 26) require that [DE] 
contain the address of an FCB, we have placed an instruction to load 
[DE] with the default FCB address (005CH) at the end of that group of 
functions. By placing function 26 after that point, we avoid destroying 




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2.Itsabsolutely 
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Encore is guaranteed for one full year, or 
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Designed for all major 
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IBM 9 #iPi*r Radio 9 

commodore* /llclGk 

Encore was specifically designed to provide 
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extension 987 In California, 1-800-672- 
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For this special offer, please include 
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card or Visa account. Company PO's ac- 
cepted with verification. 

Offer is limited to one trial pack per cus- 
tomer. Good only in U.S. Customer must be 
18 years or older to order. 

Offer expires September 30, 1984. 

Remember to ask for your free Inmac 
catalog. It contains over 2,500 computer 
supplies and accessories, many not avail- 
able anywhere except through the Inmac 
catalog or special offers like this one. 



i signifies manufacturer's registered trademark 



2465 Augustine Dr., Santa Clara, CA 95051 



Rush nw 
FREE Encore ^ 
diskette ^ 
today. 

/pay for two and get one free! Trial Pack Price 

□ Send me the single-sided single density (SSSD) 
5V4" Encore trial pack. P/N 7973 

□ Send me the single-sided double density (SSDD) 
5V4" Encore trial pack. P/N 7975 

□ Send me the double-sided double density (DSDD) 
5Vt" Encore trial pack. P/N 7974 

□ Send me a free Inmac Catalog. 

Subtotal 
Sales Tax* 

Payment Options Total 

U I am enclosing check for the total amount. 

□ Please charge the total amount to my credit card . 

□ Visa □ Mastercard 



$5.19 

$5.99 

$8.79 
FREE 



Account # 
Signature _ 



Expiration date . 



□ Bill Company 

My computer system is a 



RO. Number 



Model No. 



Must be 18 years or older to order. 
Allow one to two weeks for delivery 

•Customers in AZ, CA, CO, FL, GA, IL, MA, MD, 
Ml, MO, NJ, OH, PA, TX.VA.WA please add 
applicable sales tax. Offer good only in 
U.S. Offer expires September 30, 1984. 

Fill out name and address 
on reverse side 

323106A 





Rush my 
FREE Encore 
diskette 
today. 

I pay for two and get one free! Trial Pack Price 

□ Send me the single-sided single density (SSSD) 
5 1 /i" Encore trial pack. P/N 7973 

□ Send me the single-sided double density (SSDD) 
5V»" Encore trial pack. P/N 7975 

□ Send me the double-sided double density (DSDD) 
5V4" Encore trial pack. P/N 7974 

□ Send me a free Inmac Catalog. 

Subtotal 
Sales Tax* 

Payment Options Total 

□ I am enclosing check for the total amount. 

□ Please charge the total amount to my credit card. 

□ Visa □ Mastercard 



$5.19 

$5 99 

$8.79 
FREE 



Account # 
Signature . 



Expiration date . 



P.O. Number 
Model No 



□ Bill Company 
My computer system is a 

Must be 18 years or older to order. 
Allow one to two weeks for delivery 

•Customers in AZ, CA, CO, FL, GA, IL, MA, MD, 
Ml, MO, NJ, OH, PA.TX, VA.WA please add 
applicable sales tax. Offer good only in 
U.S. Offer expires September 30, 1984. 

Fill out name and address 
on reverse side 






MAY 1984 



mmn 



SRCHFR: 


LD 


C.11H 




DB 


21 H 


SRCHNX: 


LD 


C.12H 




DB 


21H 


MAKFIL: 


LD 


C.16H 




DB 


21H 


DELFIL: 


LD 


C.13H 




DB 


21H 


RENFIL: 


LD 


C.17H 




DB 


21H 


SETATT: 


LD 


C.1EH 




DB 


21H 


OPNFIL: 


LD 


COFH 




DB 


21H 


CLSFIL: 


LD 


C.10H 




DB 


21 H 


RDSEQ: 


LD 


C.14H 




DB 


21H 


WTSEQ: 


LD 


C15H 




DB 


21 H 


GTSIZE: 


LD 


C.23H 




DB 


21 H 


SETREC: 


LD 


C.24H 




DB 


21H 


RDRAN: 


LD 


C.21H 




DB 


21 H 


WTRAN: 


LD 


C22H 




DB 


21H 


WTFILL: 


LD 


C.28H 




LD 


DE.005CH 




DB 


21 H 


SETDMA: 


LD 


C1AH 




JP 


0005H 



Search for first 
Skip 2 bytes 
Search for next 
Skip 2 bytes 
Make file 
Skip 2 bytes 
Delete file 
Skip 2 bytes 
Rename file 
Skip 2 bytes 
Set file attributes 
Skip 2 bytes 
Open file 
Skip 2 bytes 
Close file 
Skip 2 bytes 
Read sequential 
Skip 2 bytes 
Write sequential 
Skip 2 bytes 
Compute file size 
Skip 2 bytes 
Set random record 
Skip 2 bytes 
Read random 
Skip 2 bytes 
Write random 
Skip 2 bytes 

Write random with zero fill 
Point [DE] to FCB 
Skip 2 bytes 

Set current DMA address 
Go BDOS ret to caller 



CLRSCN: 


LD 


HL.2A1BH 


[L] = 1BH, [H] = "*" 




JR 


SENDEM 


Print them 


CLREOS: 


LD 


HL.591BH 


[L] = 1BH, [H] = "Y" 




JR 


SENDEM 


Print it 


CLRLIN: 


LD 


E.ODH 


Carriage return 




CALL 


PUTCHR 


Go to start of line 


CLREOL: 


LD 


HL.541BH 


[L] = 1BH, [H] = "T" 




JR 


SENDEM 


Print them 


NORMAL: 


LD 


HL.291BH 


[L] = 1BH,[H] = 'r 




JR 


SENDEM 


Print them 


INVERS: 


LD 


HL.281BH 


[L] = 1BH,[H] = "(" 




JR 


SENDEM 


Print them 


HOMCUR: 


LD 


H.1EH 


[H] = single char home 




DB 


21H 


Skip 2 bytes 


CURSUP: 


LD 


H.OBH 


[H] = single char up 




DB 


21 H 


Skip 2 bytes 


CURFWD: 


LD 


H.OCH 


[H] = single char forward 




JR 


SENDIT 


Print only one 


SENDEM: 


LD 


E,L 


Get first character 




PUSH 


HL 


Save second character 




CALL 


PUTCHR 


Send first 




POP 


HL 


Restore second 


SENDIT: 


LD 


E,H 


Get second 




JP 


PUTCHR 


Send it 



CHARACTER I/O SUBROUTINES 



Figure 2. File-related function subroutines. 



the new DMA address; we manage this by loading [DE] with the FCB if 
function 26 is called. 

Because we are loading [DE] automatically with the FCB address, 
programs that use the library in this form will have to use the default 
FCB area for file access. To eliminate this restriction, you can remove 
the instruction that loads [DE] and simply make sure that your program 
always loads the correct FCB address before calling the necessary sub- 
routine. Another method would be to duplicate the subroutine calls both 
before and after the instruction to load [DE], thereby giving yourself the 
option to use either the default FCB or one of your own. 

Now that we've completed the subroutines for file-related functions, 
we can incorporate them into our overall subroutine library. The library 
is shown in total in figure 3, with all available BDOS functions installed. 



PUSH 


DE 


Save buffer address 


LD 


(DE),A 


Set maximum characters 


CALL 


BUFFIN 


Get input 


POP 


DE 


[DE] = buffer address 


INC 


DE 


[DE] -> chars received 


LD 


A,(DE) 


[A] = chars received 


INC 


DE 


[DE] -> first character 


OR 


A 


Set Z80 zero flag 


RET 




Return to caller 



CRMSGQ: CALL CARLF 

MSGOUQ: JR STROUT 

CRMSG: CALL CARLF 

MSGOUT: CALL STROUT 

CARLF: PUSH DE 

LD DE.CRLF 

CALL STROUT 

POP DE 
RET 



CRLF: 



DIRIN: 



DB 



0DH,0AH,'$' 



* GENERAL-PURPOSE SUBROUTINE? 



ABORT: 



LD 

CALL 
CALL 
JP 



DE.SYSDSK 
MSGOUQ 
GETCHR 
0000 



Reinsert system disk message 
Inform him 

Get ack, any char will do 
Go warm boot 



LOOP: 



SYSDSK: DB 
DB 



LD E.OFFH 

CALL DIROUT 

OR A 

JR NZ.DOCHAR 

LD A,(LOOP) 

OR A 

RET Z 

JR DIRIN 

DB 00 



'Place System Disk in Drive A: and ' 
'Hit RETURN. . . $' 



TERMINAL SCREEN FUNCTIONS 



LD 


HL.0017H 


Bottom left of screen 


PUSH 


HL 


Save position 


LD 


HL.3D1BH 


[L] = 1BH, [H] = " = " 


CALL 


SENDEM 


Print them 


POP 


HL 


Restore position 


LD 


A,L 


Line position 


ADD 


A.20H 


Add offset value 


LD 


L,A 


Back to [L] 


LD 


A,H 


Horizontal position 


ADD 


A.20H 


Add offset value 


LD 


H,A 


Back to [H] 


JR 


SENDEM 


Print them 



DOCHAR: AND 7FH 

CP 61 H 

JR C.CTRL? 

CP 7BH 

JR NCCTRL? 

AND 5FH 

CTRL?: PUSH AF 

CP 20H 

JR NCECHO 

CP 03 

JP Z, ABORT 

PUSH AF 

LD A.5EH 

CALL ECH01 

POP AF 

ADD A.40H 

JR ECHO 



Print leading CRLF 
Print string 

Print leading CRLF 
Print string 

Save possible string address 
[DE] -> return and line feed 
Go print them 
Restore any string address 
Return to caller 

CR, LF, and termination 

Direct console input entry 
Get character from keyboard 
Get one? 

Yep, go process it 
No, get loop flag 
Keep looping? 
No, return now 
Yes, go try again 
Z = one pass, NZ = loop 

Yes, strip any high bit 
Is it L/C? 

No, skip conversion 
Maybe, is less than 'z' + 1? 
No, skip conversion 
Yes, convert to U/C 
Save it for caller 
Is it printable? 
Yes, go echo it 
No, is it control-C? 
Yes, then abort 
Save it again and . . . 
. . . replace it with 'a' 
Print 'a' 

Get ong char instead of 'a' 
Make it U/C ASCII and . . . 
... go print it 



162 



MAY 1984 



ECH01: 
ECHO: 



PUSH AF 

LD E.A 

CALL DIROUT 

POP AF 
RET 



BDOS SYSTEM CALLS 



I nit stack with dummy value 
Into [E] for DIROUT 
Send character to screen 
Restore char or dummy value 



-( CHARACTER I/O FUNCTIONS ) 



STATUS: 


LD 


OOBH 


Console status function 




CALL 


0005H 


Call BDOS 




INC 


A 


00 -> 01, OFFH -> 00 




RET 


NZ 


NZ = no character, so return 


GETCHR: 


LD 


C,1 


Console input function 




DB 


21 H 


Skip 2 bytes 


PUTCHR: 


LD 


C,2 


Console output function 




DB 


21H 


Skip 2 bytes 


RDRIN: 


LD 


C,3 


Reader input function 




DB 


21H 


Skip 2 bytes 


PUNOUT: 


LD 


C,4 


Punch output function 




DB 


21 H 


Skip 2 bytes 


LSTOUT: 


LD 


C,5 


List output function 




DB 


21 H 


Skip 2 bytes 


DIROUT: 


LD 


C,6 


Direct I/O function 




DB 


21 H 


Skip 2 bytes 


STROUT: 


LD 


C,9 


String output function 




DB 


21H 


Skip 2 bytes 


BUFFIN: 


LD 


C,10 


Read buffer function 




DB 


21 H 


Skip 2 bytes 


GETIOB: 


LD 


C,7 


Get IOBYTE function 




DB 


21H 


Skip 2 bytes 


SETIOB: 


LD 


C,8 


Set IOBYTE function 




DB 


21H 


Skip 2 bytes 



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'Apple and IBM are registered trademarks ot Apple Computer and International Business Machines 



MISCELLANEOUS FUNCTIONS ) 



RESETS: 



GTVERS: 



SETUSR: 



LD 
DB 
LD 
DB 
LD 
JP 



O00H 
21 H 
O0CH 
21 H 
C.20H 
0005H 



Reset system function 
Skip 2 bytes 

Get version number function 
Skip 2 bytes 
Get/set user function 
Go BDOS ret to caller 



-( FILE-RELATED DISK I/O FUNCTIONS )- 



SRCHFR: 


LD 


C,11H 


Search for first 




DB 


21 H 


Skip 2 bytes 


SRCHNX: 


LD 


C.12H 


Search for next 




DB 


21H 


Skip 2 bytes 


MAKFIL: 


LD 


C,16H 


Make file 




DB 


21 H 


Skip 2 bytes 


DELFIL: 


LD 


C.13H 


Delete file 




DB 


21 H 


Skip 2 bytes 


RENFIL: 


LD 


C.17H 


Rename file 




DB 


21 H 


Skip 2 bytes 


SETATT: 


LD 


C.1EH 


Set file attributes 




DB 


- 21 H 


Skip 2 bytes 


OPNFIL: 


LD 


O0FH 


Open file 




DB 


21H 


Skip 2 bytes 


CLSFIL: 


LD 


C.10H 


Close file 




DB 


21 H 


Skip 2 bytes 


RDSEQ: 


LD 


C.14H 


Read sequential 




DB 


21H 


Skip 2 bytes 


WTSEQ: 


LD 


C,15H 


Write sequential 




DB 


21H 


Skip 2 bytes 


GTSIZE: 


LD 


C,23H 


Compute file size 




DB 


21H 


Skip 2 bytes 


SETREC: 


LD 


024H 


Set random record 




DB 


21H 


Skip 2 bytes 


RDRAN: 


LD 


C.21H 


Read random 




DB 


21 H 


Skip 2 bytes 


WTRAN: 


LD 


C.22H 


Write random 




DB 


21H 


Skip 2 bytes 


WTFILL: 


LD 


C.28H 


Write random with zero fil 




LD 


DE.005CH 


Point [DE] to FCB 




DB 


21H 


Skip 2 bytes 


SETDMA: 


LD 


C,1AH 


Set current DMA address 




DB 


21 H 


Skip 2 bytes 



-(NON-FILE-RELATED DISK I/O FUNCTIONS) 



SELDSK: 


LD 


O0EH 


Select disk function 




DB 


21H 


Skip 2 bytes 


RESETD: 


LD 


C.25H 


Reset single disk function 




DB 


21 H 


Skip 2 bytes 


RESETA: 


LD 


O0DH 


Reset all disks 




DB 


21H 


Skip 2 bytes 


GETCUR: 


LD 


C19H 


Get current disk function 




DB 


21H 


Skip 2 bytes 


GETLOG: 


LD 


C.18H 


Get login vector function 




DB 


21H 


Skip 2 bytes 


GETALO: 


LD 


C.1BH 


Get alloc vector function 




DB 


21H 


Skip 2 bytes 


PROTEC: 


LD 


C1CH 


Write protect disk function 




DB 


21 H 


Skip 2 bytes 


GETROV: 


LD 


C.1DH 


Get R/O vector function 




DB 


21 H 


Skip 2 bytes 


GETDPB: 


LD 


C.1FH 


Get DPB address function 




JP 


0005H 


Go BDOS, RET to caller 


GETUSR: 


LD 


E.0FFH 


E is flag for BDOS 




JR 


SETUSR 


Go via SETUSR call 



Figure 3. The complete subroutine library. 



As you can see, since the file-related functions do smash the [DE] 
register pair, we have had to separate the character I/O and 
miscellaneous functions from the disk functions by placing a 
JP 0005H instruction at the end of the miscellaneous function calls. 
This costs two bytes, but it is probably the optimum way of ac- 
complishing the task. 

This completes our study of the BDOS functions themselves. Until 
next month .... 31 



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DOS's New Type Command 



One of the biggest problems with Apple text files is that there's no 
easy way to see what's in them. This month we're going to solve that 
problem once and for all by adding to DOS a new command, called type, 
that will display any text file on your screen or printer (or send it through 
your modem, for that matter). In addition to gaining this very handy 
command, you'll learn some interesting details about what text files look 
like on the inside and what's involved in adding commands to DOS 3.3. 

Text File Fundamentals. For the sake of those of you who are new 
around here, we'll start this discussion in very shallow water. We'll 
slowly wade in deeper— feel free to get out and dry off when you can't 
hold your breath any longer. Now don't be afraid. 

Text files are almost always used to hold data rather than programs. 
When you catalog your disk, text files are the ones that have a t in front 
of them (DOS 3.3) or txt in the type column (ProDOS). Sample catalogs 
are shown in figure 1 . 

There are two kinds of text files, sequential and random access. Se- 
quential files consist of one long stream of ASCII characters (letters, 
numbers, symbols, and control characters). DOS 3.3 sequential files end 
with a special marker, control-® (hex $00). The stream has no other es- 
sential characteristics. If you want to read a file by using standard Apple- 
soft input statements, there must be at least one return character in the 
file every 256 characters— but this is an Applesoft requirement; DOS 
doesn't care. 

Random access files also consist of streams of characters, but the 
characters are arranged in a more orderly fashion. Random access files 
consist of a series of records all having the same length. The records in a 
random file can be as long as 32,767 characters (DOS 3.3) or 65,535 
characters (ProDOS). But as a practical matter, random files usually 
have a record length of between ten and a couple of hundred characters. 

You assign the record length you want a file to have when you open 
it. If you assign a file a record length of fifty, for example, the first fifty 
characters in the file belong to the first record, the next fifty to the sec- 
ond record, and so on. (Incidentally, the first record is always referred to 
as record zero, the second as record one, and so on.) 

In each of the catalogs in figure 1 , one of the files is sequential and 



JCATALOG 

DISK VOLUME 254 

T 002 APRIL SHOWERS 
T 017 MAY FLOWERS 

[CATALOG /SPRING/TIME 

/SPRING/TIME 



(DOS 3 3) 



(ProDOS) 



TYPE BLOCKS 



CREATED ENDFILE SUBTYPE 



APRIL SHOWERS 
MAY FLOWERS 



TXT 
TXT 



1 3-APR-84 11 10 3APR-84 1109 
9 12-MAY-84 9 33 12MAY-84 9 15 



155 R= 0 
4096 R= 100 



BLOCKS FREE 260 BLOCKS USED 20 TOTAL BLOCKS 280 

Figure 1 . Catalogs holding text files. 



one is random access. No matter how long you study the DOS 3.3 cata- 
log, you'll never figure out which is which. The information isn't there. 
Nor is there anything about how long the records of the random access 
file are. You have to remember those details yourself (you say you 
bought a computer to remember things for you?). 

With ProDOS, on the other hand, this information is kept in the di- 
rectory with other details about a file. Look at the last column of the 
ProDOS catalog. The parameter R indicates record length. Text files that 
have a record length of zero are sequential files. Any other record length 
indicates a random file and the length of its records. 

The next to the last column of the ProDOS catalog, the one headed 
endfile, tells you the length of the file in characters. ProDOS always 
saves a file's true length in the file directory. DOS 3.3, on the other 
hand, doesn't know a file's current length. The numbers in DOS catalogs 
indicate how many disk sectors have been allocated to a file but are often 
not related to the file's actual length. For example, when a file gets 
smaller, sectors are not automatically deallocated. Thus, a file that was 
once 100 sectors long, but is now only 22 sectors long, will still display 
a "file length" of 100 sectors. 

So where do DOS 3.3's end of data messages come from? DOS 3.3 
returns an end-of-data error whenever it encounters an end-of-data 
marker. As noted earlier, this marker is a zero byte— hex $00 or ASCII 
control-® 

Biting Off the Zero Byte. Let's take a look at the end-of-data mark- 
ers in a DOS 3.3 file. A very interesting little text file we can look at is 
called Apple Proms— you'll find it on old DOS 3.3 System Master disks 
and new DOS 3.3 Sample Programs disks. Make a copy of your Apple 
Proms disk, boot the copy, enter this program, save it, and run it (a mis- 
take could damage your disk — use an expendable backup until you have 
tested the program): 

5 PRINT "INSTALLING TYPE COMMAND . . ." 

10 C$ = "9D54:DE BC" 

15 GOSUB 500 : REM change command jump table 

20 C$ = "A902:54 59 50 C5 00" 

25 GOSUB 500 : REM change command name table 

30 C$="A940:74" 

35 GOSUB 500 : REM change syntax table 

40 C$ = "BCDF:20 C6 A5 A9 8D 20 ED FD 20 EF BC 90 F8 4C EA A2' 
45 GOSUB 500 : REM install first part of patch 

50 C$="BCEF:AD00C0C9 9B F0 03 4C 8C A6 8D 10 

CO A9 00 38 60" 
55 GOSUB 500 : REM install last part of patch 

60 C$ = "A631:EF BC" 

65 GOSUB 500 : REM Exec Killer (optional— see Dec '83 DOStalk) 



MAY 1984 S Q P J A L K m 165 



70 END 

500 C$ = C$ + "N D9C6G" 

510 FOR 1 = 1 TO LEN (C$) : POKE 511+1, 

ASC(MID$(C$,I,1))+128 : NEXT 
520 POKE 72,0 : CALL -144 
530 RETURN 

After running the program, enter type apple proms on your keyboard. 
If you've entered the program correctly, the contents of Apple Proms 
will quickly scroll by on your screen. Press control-S to stop and restart 
the scrolling; press escape to exit the display completely. The display 
will look something like this (the @ signs will be in inverse type): 

]TYPE APPLE PROMS 

75 

DEL 1000,1250 
SAVE RANDOM 
HOME 
RUN 

©©PARALLEL PRINT,256,8,500 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@COMMUNICATIONS,256,8,1250 
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@(NOT AVAILABLE),256,8,0 
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@(NOT AVAILABLE),256,8,0 
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@DISK BOOT.256,8,432 
@@@@@ . . . and so on 

Apple Proms is a data file for the DOS 3.3 demonstration program 
called Random. Random is a simple inventory-control program de- 
scribed on page 77 of the DOS Programmer's Manual. 

Since it's a data file for Random, it would be reasonable to assume 
that Apple Proms is a random access file. It is. Look at the part of the file 
that begins with the word "communications" and ends with the open 
parenthesis of the first "(not available)." This is the third record in the 
file (but remember that it's officially called record 2). 

This record describes a single item in a hypothetical inventory. The 
item is a communications PROM (a PROM is a programmable ROM— 
an electronic chip). The "256" indicates its size, and the "1250" indi- 
cates the quantity on hand. You can confirm this by entering run Ran- 
dom. The "8" is apparently Random's programmer's lucky number and 
nothing more; Random reads and writes that portion of the record but 
never uses it. 

The record length of Apple Proms is forty. Count the characters, in- 
cluding the ending @ signs, in the communications record. Don't forget to 
count the invisible carriage return after "1250." Exactly forty charac- 
ters, right? 

Count the other records if you like. They're all forty characters long. 
You can confirm this by looking at line 70 of Random, where the file is 
opened with the L parameter set to 40. 

You've no doubt noticed that record zero is completely different from 
the others. Record zero, in fact, holds a small sequential file. The file 
consists of a series of Basic commands meant to be executed with the 
exec command. 

The original version of Random wouldn't run while on the write-pro- 
tected System Master disk. This small exec file was a part of a command 
sequence used to modify the original program and save it on a non-write- 
protected disk. The modifications the exec file makes (deleting lines 75 
and 1000 through 1250) remove the rest of the self-modifying command 
sequence from the program before saving it. 

Nowadays Random comes on the non-write-protected Sample Pro- 
grams disk, so the self-modifying command sequence isn't included in 
the program. Nonetheless, Apple Proms still contains this small, sequen- 
tial, exec-able file within record zero. 

If you try to load Apple Proms into a text-file-compatible word proc- 
essor, or if you try to read it with sequential text file commands, it will 
appear that the file ends right after this section. When DOS encounters 
the first @ sign, it assumes it has reached the end of the file. It is ex- 
tremely difficult to fish anything out of a file beyond that first @ sign un- 
less you are dealing with a random access file of known record length, or 
unless you have the help of our new type command or a disk sector 
read/write utility. 

The type command will always show you everything in all of the sec- 
tors allocated to a file. If you have a file that contains nothing but the 
word help! and a carriage return, type will display those six characters 
and the 250 @ signs that make up the rest of the sector (each sector holds 
exactly 256 characters; character positions that have never had anything 



else stored in them hold @ signs). 

Sizing Up Text Files. If you look at a catalog display to find out the 
number of sectors allocated to a very short text file like Help!, it will 
show that the file has two sectors. Yet type displays only 256 
characters — one sector's worth. What happened to the other sector? 

At least one sector of every DOS 3.3 file is used to hold the file's 
track/sector list. T/S lists are small databases Uncle DOS creates for 
each file on a disk. A file's T/S list points to the disk sectors in which the 
file's data has been stored. The smallest legitimate DOS 3.3 file you will 
ever see has two sectors— a T/S list sector and a data sector. 

Occasionally you will see files in your catalog that show a sector 
length of one. These are files that were opened but never closed. They 
are empty, useless files, and you might as well delete them. Do all you 
can to avoid creating them in the first place. When DOS opens a new 
file, it allocates an entire disk track in the disk free-space map for it. 
When the file is closed, DOS goes back and corrects the free-space map. 

When an opened file is never closed— say you turn off your computer 
or reboot before closing or deleting the one sector file— the disk's free- 
space map doesn't get corrected. What's worse, it can't be corrected 
later either— not even if you delete the file. Thus a disk with several one- 
sector files on it will appear to DOS to have far fewer free sectors than it 
really has. The only way to recover this space, short of special disk re- 
covery utilities, is to use fid to move any good files to some other disk 
and reinitialize. 

A single T/S list can point to 122 data sectors. If a file has more data 
sectors than that, a second T/S list sector is allocated, and so on. 

Open, Delete, Open, Write. Whenever you open a new text file, it 
contains, as far as the eye can see, a stream of @ signs. Just as astrono- 
mers can detect background radiation that echoes the big bang that cre- 
ated the universe, all those @ signs you find in your text files are rem- 
nants of the file's creation. DOS never puts an end-of-data marker in a 
file. Instead, files begin life as a stream of end-of-data markers— data 
replaces the markers until the data ends and the markers begin again. 

This has an important ramification. It's hard to make an existing se- 
quential file or random access record shorter than it was before. If we 
changed the contents of Help!, for example, to "ok!" and used the type 
command to display it, we would find "ok!", a return, "!", a return, 
and the same old 250 @ signs in the file. The second exclamation point 
and return would always mysteriously be tacked onto the end of our file. 

There is no straightforward way to tell DOS to end the file after the 
first return. You might think you could do it by writing a control-® 
(print CHR$(0)) to the file, but not even this works. Basic sends the 
control-® to DOS just like all other characters— in the high-value ASCII 
format. DOS receives a 128 (hex $80) rather than a data-ending zero. 
Therefore, it has become common practice when working with sequen- 
tial files to delete old files before saving new information in them. Here's 
the standard sequence of instructions used for doing this: 

400 PRINT D$;"OPEN INDY 500" 
410 PRINT D$;"DELETE INDY 500" 
420 PRINT D$;"OPEN INDY 500" 
430 PRINT D$;"WRITE INDY 500" 

The lines make precious little sense until someone explains them to 
you. The idea is to delete a preexisting file called Indy 500. If the file 
didn't exist yet, however, line 410 would return a "file not found" er- 
ror. Just to make sure there's a file around to delete, we open it first. 
This will create a file called Indy 500 if there's not one already on the 
disk. 

Interestingly, this technique has to be modified slightly to work with 
ProDOS. ProDOS won't allow you to delete an open file. When convert- 
ing programs to ProDOS, you have to add a line like 405: 

400 PRINT D$;"OPEN INDY 500" 
405 PRINT D$;"CLOSE INDY 500" 
410 PRINT D$;"DELETE INDY 500" 
420 PRINT D$;"OPEN INDY 500" 
430 PRINT D$;"WRITE INDY 500" 

With This Zero I Thee End. The difficulty with deleting the file 
first is that this takes a few seconds. In addition, it takes longer to save 
data in a brand-new file than in a preexisting one (DOS doesn't have to 
search for free sectors when using a preexisting file). Luckily, there are 
ways to avoid this awkwardness. 



166 



sunn 



MAY 1984 



If you still have the Random demo program around, run it and call 
upon its powers to change the name of the "communications" PROM 
(#2) to "com". Then exit the program and give the command type apple 
proms. Here's what you might expect to see, given what we've discussed 
so far, and what you actually will see: 

Original file: 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@COMMUNICATIONS,256,8,1250 



Expected contents after changing "communications" to "com": 
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@COM, 256,8,1 250 
256,8,1250 



Actual contents after change: 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@COM,256,8,1250 



,8,1250 



When Random updates the record for the communications PROM, it 
writes the new name, "com", in the record, followed by ",256,8,1250" 
and a return. It would be reasonable to expect that the next few bytes 
of the file would contain whatever they held before the change was 
made. Instead, the record holds an @ sign and two invisible carriage 
returns (detectable by the new lines they create). Where did that @ sign 
come from? 

The humble little Random demo program includes an undocumented 
DOS programming trick. Here are the lines of Random that write the up- 
dated record into the file. When these lines are executed, 
WR$ = D$ + "write"; FL$ = "apple proms"; R = 2; N$ = "com"; 
BL=256; BW = 8; and ST = 1250. 



290 PRINT WR$; FL$;",R' 
294 CALL 768 : PRINT 
300 PRINT D$ 



R : PRINT N$;","; BL;","; BW;","; ST 



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Line 290 writes the updated data into record 2. Since there is no 
return-suppressing semicolon at the end of the second print statement, 
print puts a return after "1250." 

The next line begins with a call to a machine language routine at loca- 
tion 768 ($300). What's this? The call is followed by a print statement 
and, in line 300, by a simple print D$, which turns the write command 
off. Studying random further, we find a statement at line 74, during the 
program's initialization sequence, that calls a subroutine at line 9000. 
This subroutine looks like this: 

9000 FOR I = 768 TO 775 : READ J : POKE I, J : NEXT 
9010 RETURN 

9100 DATA 169,0,32,237,253,76,142,253 

The subroutine pokes a short machine language subroutine at location 
768. This subroutine is: 

0300- A9 00 LDA #$00 load A with zero 

0302- 20 ED FD JSR $FDED print it 

0305- 4C 8E FD JMP $FD8E print a carriage return 

So . . . it is that call 768 that manages to put an end-of-data marker in 
record 2! The call also puts the first carriage return after the @ sign into 
the file— the print statement in line 294 puts in the second one. 

You can use this trick to put end-of-data markers in your own files. If 
you do, you no longer need to delete preexisting data files. The trick 
doesn't work with ProDOS, however. Remember, ProDOS doesn't use 
end-of-data markers. 

All about Type. The type command is very useful for finding out 
what's actually in a text file. It's also handy for dumping files to printers 
or other devices. Simply enter pr#\, or whatever, before entering the 
type command. In this case, you probably don't want to send that final 
string of end-of-data markers to your printer— it may choke on all those 
control-@s. You can fix type very easily by poking a different value into 
memory location 48362. If you poke in 208, type stops at the first end- 
of-data marker. To reset it so that type stops at the end of the last sector, 
the normal setup, poke 48362,144. 

If you'd like to make the type command a permanent part of DOS, 
simply initialize a new disk after installing the command. Whenever that 
disk is booted, you'll have a type command. 

When using type to display random access files with lots of unused 
records, you may occasionally get a display that is clearly wrong. For 
example, imagine you create a random file with a record length of 256 
(the size of one sector). Store "spring fever" in records 0 and 5. When 
you type this file you will see record 0's "spring fever", return, and 243 
@ signs, but that's all. You won't see the 1 ,024 @ signs that should be in 
records 1 through 4 or any part of record 5. 

This is because DOS doesn't allocate data sectors to random files un- 
til something is actually stored in them. Check out the sector length of 
this imaginary file. It's only three. When type goes to get Spring Fever's 
record 1 , DOS looks in the T/S list and finds that no data sector has ever 
been allocated for that file position. DOS assumes that the end of the file 
has been reached, tells type about it, and type halts execution. 

When working with DOS 3.3 random files, it's best to initialize all 
the file's records with some kind of data — just blank spaces will work 
fine. Then type will display the whole file every time. This trick isn't 
necessary with ProDOS. 

A potential problem with type that you should be aware of is that it 
uses the DOS free space at 48351 ($BCDF). The type installation pro- 
gram given here doesn't check to see whether this free space is truly free 
or if some other patch has already been installed there. Should type over- 
write another patch, the previous patch will be destroyed. Likewise, if 
you or one of your programs should install a second patch at this loca- 
tion, type itself will be destroyed and cease to function. 

Another problem with type is that it deletes the DOS verify command. 
In order to add new commands to DOS 3.3, one of the old commands has 
to be deleted (this is not true with ProDOS, as we'll see next month). 
Verify was chosen partly because it is not a widely used command, but 
mostly because it is by far the easiest command to usurp. 

Adding Commands to DOS 3.3. There are three tables deep within 
the genetic structure of Uncle DOS that you must make adjustments to if 
you'd like him to respond to your own special commands. These are the 
command name table, the command syntax table, and the command 
jump table. 



MAY 1984 



SOCTA 



167 



Whenever you send a command to Uncle DOS, he studies it carefully 
to determine whether he can beep you with a syntax error rather than 
executing it. This process is called parsing. First DOS looks at your 
command and tries to match it with one of the words in his command 
name table. This table was examined at length in DOStalk in April and 
May 1982. 

Here's a quick summary. The command name table lives inside DOS 
between bytes 43140 and 43272 ($A884-$A908). The initial letters of 
each command are in low-value ASCII; the last letter of each is in high- 
value ASCII. The final byte of the table holds a zero. As Uncle DOS zips 
through this table looking for a match with your command, he counts the 
number of high-value ASCII characters that pass by. If he gets to the 
zero — which indicates no match was found— he passes the command on 
to Dr. Basic. 

If a match is found, on the other hand, all further actions DOS takes 
are based on that count of high-value ASCII characters he has been keep- 
ing. The count is used to create an index into the two other command- 
oriented tables. 

If you decide to make changes to the command name table, it's easiest 
if you replace an existing command with another of the same length. If 
you use a command name with fewer letters, you have to slide all the 
other commands down to take up the unused space. If you make a com- 
mand longer, you have to find some other command you can make 
shorter. 

The nice thing about verify is that it is the last command in the table. 
Thus there's no big problem with replacing its six letters with the four 
letters of type and moving the table-ending zero down two. 

Once Uncle DOS has found a command in the name table and 
calculated an index, he immediately uses the index and the command syn- 
tax table to determine what parameters are required and what parameters 
are optionally allowed with the command. The command syntax table is 
at bytes 43273 through 43328 ($A909-$A940) . Each command has two 
bytes in the table. The first two bytes are associated with the first com- 
mand in the name table (init); the second two bytes with the second com- 
mand (load); and so on. 

Each bit inside the two bytes has a specific meaning. They are shown 
in figure 2. 

first byte: 
if bit = 1 then. 

send cmd to Basic if required tile name is missing (load, run. save) 
execute cmd even if file name is missing (close) 
file name required 

second file name f equired (rename} 
pr#/m# value required 
maxfiles value required 
I not direct command 
I may create new file 

bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 10 

second byte: 

if bit = 1 , the command line may include the shown parameter 
if bit = 0. the parameter is not allowed with this command 

parameters: 

C.I.0 V D S L R B A 

bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 



Figure 2. Command syntax table bits. 

Exec, for example, has the hex values $20 and $74 stored in its two 
bytes. In $20, only bit 5 is set— a file name is required. In $74, bits 6, 5, 
4, and 2 are set. This means the Volume, Drive, Slot, and Relative posi- 
tion parameters are allowed with this command. The type command, in- 
cidentally, allows the same parameters as exec. 

There are more beautiful examples of assembly language program- 
ming than the DOS command parser (many of them within DOS itself). 
The section of DOS that uses the command syntax table is what's known 
as a hacker's delight. It is extremely complex and far from perfect. Load 
1 more file or load (control-P)Program or load program, a$800 should 
return syntax errors, for example. Instead, they will all hang up your 
system. They send control to Applesoft's load cassette tape routine, 
where it stays until you press control-reset (or until you load a cas- 
sette tape). 

Feel free to change the syntax table to fit your needs — with two excep- 
tions. Always make sure that the first command in the table (usually init) 



is allowed to create new files and that the second command isn't. Break- 
ing this rule causes a strange bug that takes weeks to find. 

Once all your command's parameters have been parsed with no er- 
rors, DOS uses the command index to select an address from the com- 
mand jump table and jump to it. This table is at bytes 40222 to 40277 
($9D1E-$9D55). The addresses in this table are "pushed," which 
means they are one less than the true beginning of the routine they point 
to. Assembly language programmers may recognize the following sec- 
tion of instructions, which demonstrates how DOS passes control to the 
routines that actually execute the various commands: 

LDX CMDINDX command number * 2 

LDA CMDJUMPS + 1 ,X get high byte of jump address - 1 

PHA push it onto stack 

LDA CMDJUMPS.X get low bye of address - 1 

PHA push it onto stack 

RTS jump to address via rts 

(rts pulls address off stack, adds one, 
and jumps to the resulting location) 

Now comes the hard part of creating new DOS commands. Once 
your command has been successfully parsed, what is it going to do? 
Here's what the type command does: 



1000 
1010 
1020 
1030 
1040 
1050 
1060 
1080 



DOS 3 3 "TYPE" COMMAND 
DOSTALK-MAY 1984 











1090 




OR 


$BCDF 












1 100 










BCDF- 


20 


C6 


A5 


1110 


TYPE 


JSR 


$A5C6 


open & position file 


BCE2- 


A9 


8D 




1120 




LDA 


#$8D 


load A with a return 


BCE4- 


20 


ED 


FD 


1130 


,1 


JSR 


$FDED 


print it 


BCE7- 


20 


EF 


BC 


1140 




JSR 


NEXTCHR 


load A with next character 


BCEA- 


90 


F8 




1150 




BCC 


1 


continue until no more sectors 


BCEC- 


4C 


EA 


A2 


1160 
1170 




JMP 


$A2EA 


close file 


BCEF- 


AD 


00 


CO 


1180 


NEXTCHR 


LDA 


$C000 


peek at keyboard 


BCF2- 


C9 


9B 




1190 




CMP 


#$9B 


escape key pressed 7 


BCF4- 


F0 


03 




1200 




BEQ 


HALT 


yes— stop execution 


BCF6- 


4C 


8C 


A6 


1210 
1220 




JMP 


$A68C 


no— get next char from file 


BCF9- 


8D 


10 


CO 


1230 


HALT 


STA 


SC0 10 


clear keyboard strobe 


BCFC- 


A9 


00 




1240 




LDA 


#0 


pass back a zero 


BCFE- 


38 






1250 




SEC 




and set the carry bit 


BCFF- 


60 






1260 




RTS 







First let's look at the last half of the routine, nextchr. This routine is 
called every time a character is to be pulled from the file. It takes a peek 
at the keyboard to see if the escape key has been pressed. If so, execution 
passes to the halt sequence, which clears the keyboard strobe, loads the 
A register with zero and sets the carry (to simulate an encounter with a 
file-ending zero and with the end of the last sector in the file), and 
returns to the caller. 

This same routine, installed in the same location, was used in the exec 
killer program presented in DOStalk in December. There it caused a 
press of the escape key to halt runaway exec files and the reading of text 
files. Here it has the same halting effect on type. You can easily activate 
the routine for exec and read too if you like— see lines 60 and 65 of the 
type installation program. 

The top half of our patch begins with a subroutine jump to $A5C6. 
This is the section of DOS that opens exec files. It works beautifully 
here. The only problem with it is that if you try to stop type by pressing 
control-reset, DOS will stop typing and start execking. You're not sup- 
posed to press control-reset while DOS is working; but never press it 
while type is active. 

Next we print a return and enter a tight loop that simply gets 
characters from the file and prints them. We continue through this loop 
until our call returns with the carry (a flag within the Apple's 
microprocessor) set. This indicates that either the end of the last sector in 
the file has been reached, or somebody pressed the escape key. At that 
point we jump to $A2EA, which is a routine that will close the file for us. 

Earlier we discussed poke 48362,208, which stops all those @ signs 
from appearing at the end of typed files. What this poke actually does is 
change the branch on carry clear at $BCEA to a branch on not equal. 
Thus, whenever a control-® (hex $00) is encountered in a file, the test 
will fail and we'll fall through to the instruction that closes the file. 33 



y ">y Your Apple's telephone. 




"Thanks for the prompt reply. Sure 
was a lot faster than waiting for 
the mail!" 



A complete plug-in communications 
system for Apple * computers. From 
Hayes, the established telecomputing 
leader: the simple but sophisticated 
Micromodem He™ plug-in board 
modem and its companion software, 
Smartcom I.™ Everything you need to 
expand the world of your Apple II, He, 
II Plus and Apple III. In one, convenient 
communications package. 

With Micromodem He and Smartcom I, 
you can access data bases, bulletin 
boards, and the varied resources of infor- 
mation services. Plan your travel itinerary 
via computer, including flight numbers, 
hotel and rental car reservations. Retrieve 
and analyze daily stock and options prices 
Work at home and send reports to your 
office. You can even do your gift shopping 
by computer! 

Micromodem He. Think of it as your 
Apple's telephone. It allows your com- 
puter to communicate with any BeIl-103 
type modem over ordinary telephone 
lines, at 110 or 300 bits per second. 
Micromodem he installs easily in an 
expansion slot, and requires no outside 
power source. It connects directly to 
either a single or multiline modular 
phone jack, to perform both Touch-Tone® 
and pulse dialing. 

Micromodem He dials, answers and dis- 
connects calls automatically. And. unlike 
some modems, it operates in full or half 
duplex, for compatibility with most time- 
sharing systems. 
A built-in speaker lets you monitor your 



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calls when dialing. That way, you'll 
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Discover how Micromodem He can 
help maximize the capabilities of your 
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Smartcom I companion software. 
For effortless communications. f I | 
Whether you're a newcomer ITJ 
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Thanks to Smartcom I! 

Let Smartcom I guide you through a few 
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program to your particular needs. Then 
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Make a selection from the Smartcom I 
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you easily make a call, end a call, or answer 
a call. When you're on the receiving end, 
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ically, even if you're not there! 

Convenient! And so is the Smart- 
com I memory for phone numbers. 
Smartcom I stores three of your most 
frequently called telephone numbers 
and one prefix. Plus, it also remem- 
bers the last number dialed. 

Smartcom I also provides a direc- 
tory of the files stored on your disk. 
And lets you create, list, name, send, 
receive, print or erase files right from 
its menu. 

Smartcom I is as versatile as you need it 
to be. It accepts DOS 3. 3, Pascal, CP/M™ 
3.0 or CP/M Plus™ operating systems. 
And accommodates up to six disk drives 
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Like all our products, Smartcom I and 

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£198) Hayes Microcomputer Products. Inc 

Micromodem lie and Smartcom I are trademarks of Hayes 

Microcomputer Products, Inc Apple Computer is a registered 

trademark of Apple Computer. Inc Touch-Tone is a registered trademark 

ot American Telephone and Telegraph CP/M is a trademark of Digital 

Research. Inc CP/M Plus is a trademark of Advanced Logic Systems 



MAY 1984 



169 




Working on a Phone Line, Avoiding Downtown 



Another working day is ended 

Only the rush hour hell to face 

Packed like lemmings into shiny metal boxes 

Contestants in a suicidal race. 

—Sting , ' ' Sy nchronicity II . " 

Picture this: Each weekday between the 
hours of six and nine in the morning, millions of 
people hop into their cars, drive to a freeway, 
and merge themselves with a whole bunch of 
other cars, producing one of the ugliest sights in 
the civilized world— the traffic jam. The num- 
ber of man-hours spent in traffic jams each day 
is mind-blowing. After they reach their respec- 
tive destinations, these people go into different 
buildings, where most of them sit down at a 
desk. 

Now picture this: The same millions of peo- 
ple, instead of going to their cars, walk across 
the room to a computer. When they get there, 
they sit down and begin doing the same work as 
the people who jumped into their cars. It's 
called telecommuting— doing one's work by 
home computer instead of having to go to an of- 
fice. 

The advantages to telecommuting are obvi- 
ous: Traffic jams, fuel costs, and getting 
dressed for work would no longer be a problem. 
Given the opportunity, a lot of us would prefer 
to work at home and avoid the inconveniences 
of the daily commute. 

Maybe telecommuting isn't quite the right 
term to describe the above scenario; the word 
sounds like it means people travel to work via 
telephone lines — a concept that's more amusing 
than it is viable. It's more accurate to define 
telecommuting as doing office work at home 
and sending in the finished product by phone. 
It's convenient, but just because you have a per- 
sonal computer doesn't necessarily mean it's 
time to tell the boss you won't be coming into 
work anymore and are setting up your office in 
the countryside instead. 

Who's It For? In order to be able to take ad- 
vantage of telecommuting, a person's job must 



involve handling, creating, or retrieving infor- 
mation. That is, it must be work that can be 
done on a computer, such as word processing, 
number crunching, or information processing. 
It's possible that the work isn't being done on a 
computer yet; what's important is that it could 
be. Once the job is computerized, it shouldn't 
make much difference where the computer ter- 
minal is as long as you can connect a modem to 
it and send in completed work by phone. 

A typical example of telecommuting in- 
volves the executive whose daily drudgery in- 
cludes gathering data, analyzing it, making pro- 
posals, and distributing information in the form 
of reports. Of course, he or she will have to 
show up at the office for meetings, but it doesn't 
make too much sense to don a suit, hop in the 
car, and drive downtown to do other things easi- 
ly done at home or at a cabin in the mountains. 

From that description, telecommuting looks 
like the way of the future. It's a convenient and 
economical solution to one of the biggest has- 
sles of the country's work force — commuting. 
However, whether it will catch on soon or catch 
on at all is questionable. 

For telecommuting to be viable, managers 
will have to realize that it will improve produc- 
tivity, and costs of transportation will have to 
remain high. There are problems with each of 
these conditions. First, managers can only un- 
derstand that telecommuting will benefit busi- 
ness if someone has tried it; and second, no one 
wants to see gasoline prices rise. 

So, despite the popularity of personal com- 
puters, telecommuting is still just an idea and 
not a common practice. However, there are 
people working on computers out of their 
homes. Professional writers, entrepreneurs, pro- 
grammers, and consultants have been doing it 
for years. But that's not telecommuting, since 
most of them are self-employed and normally 
wouldn't be commuting to work. 

It would be very procomputer to say that the 
benefits of telecommuting far outweigh the dis- 
advantages; the trouble is that the benefits are 



economic and can be measured, while the disad- 
vantages are social and are harder to measure. 
Let's look at the benefits first. 

Life without Three-Piece Suits. Assuming 
that everyone who could telecommute did so, 
traffic jams and child care centers would be 
things of the past. We wouldn't have to worry 
about lousy weather making commuting a prob- 
lem, nor would we worry about what to wear to 
work. Hours would likely be more flexible, al- 
lowing people to work at their convenience. 
Less office space would be necessary. 

Well, it certainly seems like telecommuting 
would be the solution to a lot of problems, but it 
would also present some of its own. The biggest 
disadvantage is that social relations would be 
reduced significantly. Here are some things that 
are likely to disappear: company bowling night, 
coffee-break gossip, office politics (for better or 
worse), lunch with co-workers, and activities in 
general that could be totally unrelated to work 
but essential to job satisfaction. Heck, telling 
jokes at the coffee machine is the most fun some 
people have all day! From this angle, telecom- 
muting is purely goal-oriented; its purpose is to 
increase productivity. 

There is also the question of self-discipline. 
Face it, there are scores of other things we'd 
rather be doing than working. Outside of an of- 
fice environment, it's sometimes difficult to con- 
centrate on work. Granted, some people are 
pretty good at getting their work done under any 
circumstances. For the rest of us, the refrigera- 
tor, couch, backyard, and television can be ter- 
ribly distracting. Even for those who have no 
trouble keeping their minds on work, keeping 
others away (especially the kids) from the com- 
puter can be a challenge. 

With these problems in mind, it seems that 
the person who would be perfect for telecom- 
muting is Bernice Bromfield, a self-motivated 
product development manager for AgriDentu- 
tek, a manufacturer of dental equipment for 
farm animals. Bromfield lives alone and has an 
Apple at home; Dentutek has a mainframe, 



170 




MAY 1984 



PREVENT THE DISASTER 
OF HEAD CRASH AND 
DROPOUT. 



The war against dust and dirt 
never ends. So before you boot 
up your equipment, and 
everytime you replace a 
cassette, disk or drive 
filter, be sure to use Dust-Off II ; 
it counteracts dust, grit and lint. 
Otherwise you're flirting with 
costly dropouts, head crashes 
and downtime. 

Dust-Off II is most effective 
when used with Stat-Off II. Stat- 
Off II neutralizes dust-holding 
static electricity while Dust-Off II 
blasts loose dust away. There's 
also the Dual Extender and Mini- 
Vac for vacuuming dust out of 
hard-to-reach places. 

Photographic professionals 
have used Dust-Off brand 
products consistently on 
their delicate lenses and 
expensive cameras for 
over ten years. They 
know it's the safe, dry 
efficient way to contami- 
nant-free cleaning. 




Cleaning not provided by liquid 
cleaners. 

Dust-Off II 's remarkable 
pinpoint accuracy zeros in on the 
precise area being dusted. And 
you have total control — every- 
thing from a gentle breeze for 





Stat-Off II neutralizes dust-holding 
static electricity from media and 
machines. 

delicate computer mechanisms 
to a heavy blast for grimy dirt. 
Don ' t let contamination dis- 
rupt your computer operation. 
Stock up on Dust-Off II — the ad- 
vanced dry cleaning system, 
at your local computer or 
office supply dealer. 

Or send $1.00 (for 
postage and handling) 
for a 3 oz. trial size and 
literature today. 



Dust-Off II 

The safe dry cleaning system 

Falcon Safety Products. Inc . 106b Bristol Road, Mountainside. NJ 07092 



which Bromfield used to work with from a ter- 
minal at her desk. She convinced her boss that 
she could probably be more productive at home, 
and the boss, not being one to argue, agreed. 

The first thing Bromfield had to do was fig- 
ure out how to make her Apple talk to a main- 
frame. Unlike consumer-oriented systems like 
CompuServe, business mainframes don't expect 
computers, as opposed to mainframe dumb ter- 
minals, to be coming to them for information. 
As a result, different mainframes sometimes 
have different protocols that must be met before 
data can be transferred without errors. Brom- 
field isn't a technical whiz, so the best thing for 
her to do was to get someone familiar with the 
business 's computer to help her get set up. 

(A common misconception is that having a 
microcomputer at home automatically means 
you can use it like a terminal to work with any 
mainframe host computer. Using a microcom- 
puter to function like a mainframe terminal so 
that the mainframe "thinks" the microcom- 
puter is one of its terminals is called terminal 
emulation; the micro is emulating, or acting as, 
a mainframe terminal. Purists feel that sixteen- 
bit micros are better suited than eight-bit micros 
for terminal emulation because they can adapt 
more easily to various communications proto- 
cols. Unfortunately, the Apple is an eight-bit 
computer. In layman's terms, that means it will 
be harder to use an Apple for terminal emula- 
tion than it is to use a sixteen-bit machine for the 
job. Harder, but not impossible.) 

New Office Tools. A few words about 
Bromfield's setup: An eighty-column card is al- 
most always necessary, since most mainframes 
format displays in eighty columns, rather than 
in the Apple's forty. Trying to read eighty-col- 
umn displays on a forty-column monitor is like 
listening to Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel one 
at a time and then trying to imagine what they 
would sound like together; you can get a 
general idea, but it's not the same as hearing it 
as it was originally intended. Solution? Invest in 
an eighty-column card. 

Modems come in various sizes, prices, and 
speeds. For working with mainframes, speed is 
important. Currently, 300 baud is the most 
common speed for microcomputer modems, but 
the big computers are accustomed to communi- 
cating much faster than that. As the prices of 
1200-baud modems drop to a level that's afford- 
able to consumers, 1200 baud will likely be- 
come more popular. There are a lucky few out 
there who are using modems that work faster 
(2400-, 4800-, 9600-baud), but for purposes of 
transferring data files, 1200 is good enough. 

With all the hardware set up, the next thing 
Bromfield had to take care of was software. 

Remember, because the Apple is a computer 
(not just a terminal), it needs help communicat- 
ing with a host. Additional peripheral boards 
are one solution, albeit an expensive one. An- 
other way to make the Apple function like a 
mainframe terminal is through software. A 
popular program that does that is Softerm 2, 
from Softronics (this is not an endorsement; a 
review of Softerm 2 appears in Marketalk 
Reviews this month). 

Softerm 2 is oriented more toward transfer- 
ring files than capturing data. Its main feature is 
that it provides exact terminal emulation for 



MAY 1984 



SOFTALK 



171 



twenty popular mainframes. Transfer methods 
include character protocol for text file transfers, 
the popular xmodem protocol for transferring 
binary files to or from CP/M systems, and Sof- 
tronics's Softrans protocol, which transfers any 
type of file and provides binary encoding and 
decoding, cyclic redundancy check (CRC) error 
detection and automatic retransmission, and 
data compression. 

As unique as Softerm 2 sounds, it isn't the 
only program that provides terminal 
emulation— it's just currently the most com- 
prehensive. The Professional series (ASCII Ex- 
press, Z-Term, and P-Term, which used to be 
published by Southwestern Data Systems), from 
United Software Industries, offers terminal 
emulation in the form of prefix keys. Prefix 
keys are those that can be modified to produce 
characters not available on the Apple keyboard. 

Life without Square Brackets. Especially 
true of the Apple II and II Plus, some keys, such 
as underscore, backslash, vertical line, and 
square and curly brackets, just aren't there. 
When using the Apple by itself, not having 
those keys isn't usually a problem; programs 
written for the Apple don't require them. But 
some corporate systems, like the one at Brom- 
field's office, use those special characters for 
important functions. 

Customizing prefix keys is simple. Here's 
what it looks like in ASCII Express: 

Prefixed Terminal Keys 

Prefixed Key Output Character 
, ($2C) [ ($5B) 

($2E) ] ($5D) 

aO($0F) a_($1F) 



aQ ($11) 
A)dd 



D)elete 



aQ ($11) 
e(X)it? 



The characters in the "Prefixed Key" col- 
umn are what you press on the Apple keyboard, 
and the characters in the "Output Character" 
column are sent to the host when prefix keys are 
pressed. Let's say we want to add a prefix key 
that will transmit the backslash character. 

After selecting the "Add" option, ASCII 
Express will ask us which key we want as the 
prefix key (which key we want to press to gen- 
erate the backslash character). Any key will do; 
let's choose control-U. Then it will ask us what 
output character we want (what character to 
send to the host when the prefix key is pressed). 
Since there isn't a backslash key on the II or II 
Plus keyboard, we can type in the ASCII value 
of the backslash character, which is $5C (in 
hexadecimal). Obviously, it helps to have a 
chart of ASCII characters and their respective 
values. 

Now when we want to send a backslash to 
the host, we can just type a control-U, and the 
host sees it as a backslash character. Looking at 
the table of prefixed terminal keys, we notice a 
problem. What if we want to type a comma? 
The table shows that typing a comma will send a 
left square bracket. ASCII Express takes care of 
that by requiring a special character (control- 
W) to be typed just before prefix keys. Thus, 
special characters require two keys to be 
pressed; to send a left square bracket, you 
would type control-W and then a comma. Con- 



trol-W tells ASCII Express that the next charac- 
ter (the comma) is a prefix key and to send the 
corresponding output character (left square 
bracket) instead of the comma. 

Again, we can't say this enough times: 
ASCII Express is used as an example only. 

As we can see, the technology for telecom- 
muting is available, but the question of whether 
it's practical is still unanswered. 

Big Boss Is Watching. Monitoring how 
well a telecommuter works isn't any trouble. If 
necessary, a person's boss need only check with 
the office computer to see how things are going. 
The only problem with that kind of monitoring 
is that it approaches a fine line between moni- 
toring and invading privacy. Where does moni- 
toring end and going through a person's "desk 
drawers" begin? It's hard to tell, which is why 
telecommuting will have to be based on a work 
supervisor's confidence in workers. The whole 
point of telecommuting is to let people work on 
their own without someone looking over their 
shoulder all the time. 

From this point of view, telecommuters will 
be people whose bosses don't care how much 
time is spent working, as long as the job gets 
done. That might sound like "telecommuters 
will be people in whom the boss has a lot of con- 
fidence." But another way to translate it is 
"telecommuters will be people who the boss 
sees only in terms of their work, not as peo- 
ple," which implies that telecommuters will be 
noticed more when they're not working rather 
than when they do something exceptionally 
well. At promotion time, who will come to 
mind first, the person whose face you see in the 
office and with whom you talk each day, or the 
invisible soul whose work appears by modem? 

Anyone in a position to promote workers 
won't likely have to make a decision under such 
circumstances. Chances are that two people in 
contention for a position would be working 
under similar conditions; both would be 
telecommuting, or both would be in the office. 
Even if one telecommuted while the other 
worked in the office, the one telecommuting 
would probably be in touch with the office occa- 
sionally at least. 

Does Human Rights Cover This? It's diffi- 
cult to imagine a society in which people 
worked almost exclusively from their homes. 
The image of millions of people sitting in front 
of computer terminals instead of at desks 
sounds more like the stuff of science fiction 
stories than the way of the 1980s or even the 
'90s. Telecommuting could mean the extinction 
of personal communication. We can't ignore 
that we're social animals who demand interac- 
tion. We are the species whose daily activities 
(in American society, at least) produced such 
terms as rush hour, take a meeting, let's have 
lunch, coffee break, happy hour, discuss it over 
dinner, let's party, and meet me at the Hilton. 

In our discussion of teleconferencing by 
computer last month, we mentioned some of the 
negative aspects of not being in the presence of 
someone with whom you're communicating; 
eye contact, visual cues, body language, hand 
gestures, smiles, and even the rolling of 
eyeballs are lost. Most of us communicate more 
effectively when we can see who we're talking 
to and they can see us. 



Also, an office environment includes much 
more than just walls, lights, and furniture. Oc- 
casional positive words from co-workers or su- 
pervisors can be especially conducive to work 
(anything from "I like how you handled the 
Clark account; keep up the good work" to 
"Gosh darn, those are nice shoes"). Except for 
shut-ins and hermits, we generally like being 
around people, and they sometimes like being 
around us. 

Because we thrive on interaction, telecom- 
muting will probably become a part of the 
working world, not a replacement for the busi- 
ness office. There's nothing too strange about 
making a living out of one's home; lots of en- 
trepreneurs do it. Before centralized cities, 
working from the home was commonplace. 

Telecommuting has something for 
everybody. If you want to work at home, the 
technology is here; if interacting with fellow 
workers is worth fighting traffic and paying for 
expensive gasoline, rest assured that the tradi- 
tional office will be around for a while. 

Computers are tools. Telecommuting is one 
way to use those tools, and so far we've 
managed not to let them control or use us. It 
would take an incredibly incompetent society to 
rely on computers to keep it running. As 
sophisticated as our technology is, we're 
nowhere near incompetence. Well, complete in- 
competence, anyway. 

If you know of any good terminal emulator 
hardware for the Apple, please send the info to 
Softalk Terminal Illness, Box 7039, North 
Hollywood, CA 91605. 31 



We Help Bring 
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6 Types of Charts and Sheets 
Indices 
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Notes, Footnotes and Sources 
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Family Roots includes detailed manual and 2 full diskettes 
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Other genealogy software also available. 
Price: $185 plus $3.50 Postage 

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THE TOUGHEST 

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©Copyright 1983 Turning Point Software, Incorporated 
Apple is the registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. 




WORLD CENTER FOR COMPUTERS 
FOCUSES ON POORER NATIONS 



Paris is a long way from the Third World— 
the countless small fanning villages of India, 
the rugged mountains of Chad, the tropical 
rain forests of Africa. Likewise, computers 
seem far removed from the parts of the world 
where food, electricity, and roads are scarce, 
and where most people are illiterate, never 
drink pure water, and never see a physician. 

So how is it that a group who expressly 
means to find and nurture the Bill Budges and 
Mitch Kapors of the Third World comes to 
hail from the City of Lights? 

Paris is a hub of modern civilization, a liv- 
ing record of the forward march of culture, 
society, and technology. And Paris is fast 
becoming a major center for advancement of 
the computer arts and sciences. When these 
things are taken into account, the fact that an 
organization dedicated to sharing computer 



technology with poorer, less-developed na- 
tions has its headquarters in the land of 
Balzac, Berlioz, de Gaulle, Napoleon, and 
Renoir makes a bit more sense. 

The Centre Mondial Informatique et Res- 
source Humaine (World Center for Com- 
puters and Human Resources) opened early in 
1982. Surrounded by expensive art galleries 
on avenue Matignon near the Champs-Ely sees, 
the Centre Mondial is as global in its attitude 
toward computing as its name would suggest. 

The center was inspired by The World 
Challenge, a book by French politician and 
journalist Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber. 
Servan-Schreiber argues that computers will 
enable those who are intelligent and creative 
but uneducated to do more with their lives. 
The center's idealistic attitude stands out from 
GOTO page 180, column 1 



175 

COSPAS-SARSAT 
RESCUE SYSTEM 
FLYING HIGH 

Should you ever be in an airplane that's 
about to crash in a remote area, or on a ship 
that's rapidly sinking, the most vital piece 
of equipment you can possibly have— after a 
parachute or a life preserver— is a little metal 
box about the size and shape of an Apple II 
power supply. 

The boxlike item is an emergency locator 
transmitter (ELT), which, upon impact or 
submersion in water, sends out a distress 
whoop over the aviation and maritime distress 
frequencies. It became required equipment in 
general aviation aircraft by an act of Congress 
in 1970. In 1972, the U.S. National Transpor- 
tation Safety Board recommended that the 
Coast Guard and the FCC require the same of 
ocean-going vessels (in their case, the unit is 
known as an Emergency Position-Indicating 
Radio Beacon, or EPIRB). 




The use of ELTs and EPIRBs was a good 
idea, with two rather large flaws: signal visi- 
bility and false alarms. 

Lieutenant Colonel William Clark, direc- 
tor of the Air Force's inland search-and- 
rescue efforts, outlines the first problem: 
"The only way an ELT signal could be de- 
tected was if another airplane happened to be 
flying within radio range, happened to have 
the radio tuned to one of those frequencies, 
and heard the distress signal. The plane's pilot 
would then pass along his location to the 
FAA, and the FAA would pass it to us. We'd 
draw ever-decreasing circles until we could 
identify the search area and then launch our 
forces to go out and investigate. 

"In the middle of the night in Kansas 
there's not a lot of air traffic; if you crashed 
you'd have to wait awhile." 

In these early ELT days, both the National 
Aeronautics and Space Administration and the 
U.S. Coast Guard perceived that search-and- 
rescue operations could be enhanced by im- 
proved position location and expanded moni- 
toring—that is, via the use of satellites. The 
Canadian Department of Communication had 
come to the same conclusion, and it agreed to 
work with NASA in coming up with a search- 
and-rescue satellite-aided tracking program 
GOTO page 178, column 3 



176 



MAY 1984 




Computerized Sushi Bars to 
Appear in U.S. This Fall 



Thanks to Japanese innovation, some sushi 
bars in Japan and others scheduled to open 
soon in the United States are computerized. 
The Sun Atom Company, under the direction 
of computer specialist and sushi fan Tsutomu 
Takeuchi, is marketing the Mi-Com system— 
a micro-based system that uncomplicates the 
ordering of sushi and takes the guesswork out 
of determining the bill. The first sushi bar 
with a Mi-Com system opened in Matsudo 
City near Tokyo last summer. 

At traditional sushi operations, diners give 
their orders verbally to the itamae, the sushi 
chef, who then prepares the raw fish and 
steamed rice combinations as the customers 
watch. The chef presents the diners with a few 
pieces of the Japanese delicacy at a time, all 
the while keeping up a lively conversation. 
The itamae then gives the sushi eaters the 
bill, which customers sometimes find confus- 
ing since the menu is written on the wall 
sans prices. 

The Mi-Com system eliminates much of 
the potential for frustration. Customers make 
their choices by touching a light pen to special 
displays built into the countertop. The dis- 
plays show the kinds and prices of sushi avail- 
able. Customers can also use Mi-Com to 
cancel their orders before they are filled by 
the itamae. 

Orders are electronically relayed to the 
itamae\ command panel in succession, ena- 
bling him or her to make the sushi promptly. 
The computer eliminates the chance of the 
chef s forgetting an order. The itamae is now 
able to take care of as many as ten customers 
at once, rather than three or four, the previous 
average. Likewise, drink orders are transmit- 
ted to the waitress station. 

The subtotal for the meal is flashed on the 
sushi eater's tabletop when the light pen is 
touched to the proper square. When the diners 
are ready to leave, they receive a combined or 
individualized computer printout, listing 



items, unit prices, and the total bill. 

The Mi-Com also aids the restaurant's 
management by processing orders for sushi 
raw materials, controlling inventories, and is- 
suing purchase orders. In sushi shop chains, 
each shop's microcomputer can be linked to a 
centralized accounting system. 

The Sun Atom Company is setting up fran- 
chise sushi shops and hopes to have forty in 
Japan by next year. Three shops are currently 
in operation in and around Tokyo. New Meiji 
Franchise Corporation in the United States is 
remodeling some of its sushi takeout shops 
and constructing new ones to accommodate 
the computer system. Takeuchi, through New 
Meiji, hopes to have twenty shops in the U.S. 
equipped with the Mi-Com system by early 
next year, starting first with the West Coast 
and Hawaii, then moving on to New York, 
Chicago, and eventually throughout the 
United States and Canada. 

Computerized sushi shops were originally 
scheduled to open on the West Coast in time 
for the Summer Olympics, but now their pro- 
jected opening is in September or October, ac- 
cording to New Meiji. 

The computer hardware, each unit costing 
the equivalent of $1,070 in Japan, enables the 
shop to serve three times as many diners as in 
a traditional sushi parlor. It is already evident 
in the sushi shops using the Mi-Com that the 
average sushi eater is ordering more food than 
before and that more customers are being 
drawn to the shops. 

The Mi-Com system is not the first attempt 
to incorporate high technology in sushi shops, 
according to Sun Atom. Recently, other com- 
panies have introduced sushi-making robots 
and conveyor belt sushi delivery systems. But 
Sun Atom believes that the Mi-Com system is 
the most efficient method because it preserves 
the personal touch in sushi making, allowing 
the chef more time to converse with his or her 
customers. JG 



AP Testing for 
Computer Science 
Begins This Month 

High school Pascal programmers across 
the country will be able to strut their stuff the 
tenth of this month when Princeton, New 
Jersey-based Educational Testing Service 
(maker of the Scholastic Aptitude Test and 
most college entry exams) administers its 
first Advanced Placement examination in 
computer science. 

Nationwide, some five thousand candida- 
cies are expected on the Pascal test, said Har- 
lan Hanson of New York City's College Board. 
The board decides what sorts of tests are 
needed and commissions ETS to design them. 
Pascal was selected because it has become the 
language of choice in higher education. 

"Pascal gives students good programming 
practices — teaches them data structures — 
which Basic really can't," says computer 
teacher Pat Flenner of El Camino Real High 
School in Woodland Hills, California, a Los 
Angeles suburb. 

Knowledge of structured languages is also 
desirable in the job market, she says. Perhaps 
ten of her more advanced Pascal students will 
take the exam. Students at El Camino also 
study Basic and have use of seventeen TRS-80 
computers and fifteen IBM PCs. 

The three-hour test consists of two equally 
weighted parts, one containing fifty multiple- 
choice questions and the other of some five to 
ten problems that require programs to be writ- 
ten to solve them. The tasks may be as rela- 
tively easy as the finding of the average of ten 
numbers or as complex as the designing of an 
electronic bulletin board. Areas to be covered 
will include arrays, strings, fdes, algorithms, 
linked lists, stacks, and queues. 

"Students haven't been fazed by the prac- 
tice tests we've given them," said Dennis 
Anderson, programming instructor at Ulysses 
S. Grant High School in neighboring Van 
Nuys. About fifteen of his students have 
signed up to take the test. The school has one 
Apple computer for every ten of the one hun- 
dred eighty computer science students; the 
lab and the Pascal course were both insti- 
tuted last September. Though many in Ander- 
son's preparatory course have studied Basic 
and other computer topics, some have not. All 
have taken second-year algebra, most have 
taken calculus, and many own home computers. 

If you score sufficiently high on an AP 
test, most colleges and universities will waive 
an entry-level course, award class credit, or 
both. Though it appears that most schools will 
grant unit credit for the Pascal test (general 
credit toward the total number of units needed 
for graduation), it remains to be seen whether 
they will award subject credit (accept the test 
score in lieu of successful completion of an 
equivalent course at the school) in computer 
science, mathematics, or engineering. JP 



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178 

The EEC Approves 
ESPRIT Computer 
Research Program 

In an effort to keep Europe competitive 
with Japan and the United States in the high- 
tech arena of information technologies, the ten 
member countries of the European Economic 
Community (EEC) have given the go-ahead to 
an ambitious five-year, $1 .25-billion research 
program dubbed ESPRIT. 

The so-called European Strategic Program 
for Research and Development in Information 
Technology will be funded partly by the EEC 
Commission in Brussels and partly by twelve 
private computer and electronics companies. 

The ESPRIT project will address five prin- 
cipal areas of research: advanced microelec- 
tronics, aimed at designing, manufacturing, 
and testing very high-speed large-scale in- 
tegrated circuits; software technology, in- 
cluding what is described as "the management 
practices for information technology as well 
as the scientific knowledge underlying them"; 
advanced information processing, including 
the exploitation of VLSI; office automation 
and systems; and computer-integrated man- 
ufacturing. 

Teams of university, government, and in- 
dustry scientists will carry out the research, 



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with the requirement that each project in- 
volve researchers from at least two EEC coun- 
tries. In most cases, at least half of the funding 
for a project must come from non-Commis- 
sion sources. 

As recently as last December in Athens, 
the EEC members were still delaying approval 
of the ESPRIT program— the technical details 
of which had been decided upon in the middle 
of last year— because of the members' failure 
to reach agreement on various broader aspects 
of the EEC's finances. However, in early 
March, Etienne Davignon, head of both the 
energy and industry directorates at the Com- 
mission, was able to persuade both the West 
German government and British Prime Minis- 
ter Margaret Thatcher to agree upon the pro- 
ject before further delay could undermine 
Europe's chances of remaining competitive in 
advanced information technology. 

ESPRIT has been formed to address three 
major difficulties facing Europe's electronics 
industry as it tries to develop new technolo- 
gies and remain competitive in international 
markets. The three difficulties center on the 
problem of raising long-term research and de- 
velopment funds during a period of economic 
recession and falling sales; a fragmented 
home market that is broken down into rela- 
tively small national units; and the reluctance 
of some within individual companies to sub- 
sidize those who have historically been 
economic and political rivals. 

After the March meeting in Paris, where 
the project got its positive endorsement, Dav- 
ignon called ESPRIT "the first optimistic de- 
cision of the years 1983 and 1984, which is 
going to impress both our American and Japa- 
nese partners." Laurent Fabius, French Min- 
ister of Industry and Research, also praised 
the project, claiming that the go-ahead de- 
cision also endorsed the broader strategy 
being promoted by France for increased coop- 
eration between European countries in all 
fields of research. 

A highly successful one-year pilot phase 
for ESPRIT, launched in the middle of last 
year with a budget of $20 million, attracted 
over two hundred research proposals, from 
which thirty-six were selected. EEC officials 
were impressed, not only with the number of 
proposals, but also with the apparent will- 
ingness of companies to let their scientists 
work together with few restrictions. 

The twelve companies represented in the 
ESPRIT steering committee are Great Brit- 
ain's GEC, ICL, andPiessey; West Germany's 
Nixdorf, Siemens, and AEG; France's CII- 
Honeywell Bull, Thomson-CSF, and CIT- 
Alcatel; Italy's Olivetti and SET; and 
Holland's Phillips. 

Davignon has promised, in return for sup- 
port from Great Britain and West Germany, 
that EEC resources for ESPRIT will be found 
by cutting back elsewhere in the EEC's 
planned research budget. These cuts could 
amount to $100 million out of a total of about 
$600 million next year, and even more in 
1986. The single largest component in the 
Commission budget is funding for research 
into fusion energy, and no significant reduc- 



tion in this area is expected. The most likely 
target is the program of the EEC's joint re- 
search center at Ispra in northern Italy, though 
the Italian government may strongly resist 
such a move. DH 



Rescue System 



■continued from page 175- 



(SARSAT) in 1976. The French Centre Na- 
tional d'Etudes Spatiales joined SARSAT the 
following year, and the entry of the U.S.S.R. 
and its COSPAS satellite program in 1980 
made the joint project COSPAS-SARSAT. 

The first satellite in the project was 
launched by the Soviet Union on June 30, 
1982. The COSPAS JJ went up the following 
March, along with the first U.S. SARSAT sat- 
ellite, to be joined by a second before the 
end of the year. Ground stations and control 
centers are now operational in the U.S., Cana- 
da, France, the U.S.S.R., Norway, and the 
United Kindgom. 




With the satellites in place, problem num- 
ber one, signal visibility, was greatly eased. 
That left the problem of false alarms, which, 
if anything, with the new efficiency in picking 
up ELT signals, grew worse. 

Lt. Col. Clark acknowledges the burden 
search-and-rescue operations must bear: 
"Our experience shows that 98 percent of the 
time, ELTs are going off not as the result of a 
distress situation. It's the combination of a 
bunch of things— just flat neglect on the pilot's 
part; or perhaps it's that some of the hardware 
is not as good as it should be. The FAA, FCC, 
NASA, the Coast Guard, the Air Force, and 
the Radio Technical Commission for Aero- 
nautics, a group of interested people in the 
electronic and aircraft industry who meet to 
address problems like this, have all been de- 
bating the best solution." 

Even when the problem of false alarms is 
not considered, the current system leaves a 
few things to be desired. To detect a distress 



MAY 1984 



179 



signal and pass on the information to ground- 
or air-based rescue forces, a satellite has to be 
passing over the transmitting ELT and be 
within the field of view of an earth station that 
can receive the information. The satellite does 
not store any information; instead it acts 
simply as a radio relay, or "bent pipe." The 
earth station ascertains the position of the 
signal and sends it to a central communicating 
system at the mission control center. The 
MCC takes that position, looks at a map of 
who has responsibility for search and rescue 
in that area, and sends that party the message 
that there's an ELT going off in their 
neighborhood. 

But by and large, admits Clark, the system 
is a godsend. "SARSAT takes the long proc- 
ess of redefining the search area and gives us a 
relatively precise location— about twelve 
nautical miles from one satellite report. An 
airplane flying at thirty thousand feet would 



Opposite page: October 1 1 , 1982, the wreck of 
the Gonzo— the first marine rescue using the 
COSPAS-SARSAT system. The three crewmen 
were rescued after a passing COSPAS satellite 
picked up its ELT signal and relayed the exact 
location of the wreck to the Coast Guard. This 

page: an illustration showing how the COSPAS- 
SARSAT system operates. A correctly 

functioning ELT (emergency locator transmitter) 

is probably the most crucial part of the system. 



give us a search radius of three hundred miles. 

"We don't want to oversell the thing; 
we're still very dependent on aircraft reports. 
While the satellite-generated report does an 
excellent job of telling where the signal is 
along the satellite ground track, it can't tell 
left and right because of the doppler shift 
method it employs. It's great for telling you 
where the thing is in terms of latitude, but it 
isn't worth a darn in longitude." 

At the moment, it appears that help is 
finally on the way, in the form of the 406-mHz 
beacon. Using an exclusive, stronger, cleaner 
frequency than the original 121.5-mHz stan- 
dard distress frequency model, this new trans- 
mitter will enable pilots and mariners in dis- 
tress to not only send a signal but to include 
those personal touches that mean so much- 
manual entry of latitude and longitude and the 
nature of the emergency. There will be entry 
codes to indicate "Send pumps," "I'm on 
fire," or "Someone has appendicitis." The 
COSPAS-SARSAT satellite, even if not in 



range of an earth station, should be able to use 
its onboard recording capability and then 
dump all the information on its next pass over 
an earth station (or local user terminal, as they 
are known in satellite lingo). A new French- 
designed processor that makes this possible by 
measuring the doppler frequency on the space- 
craft as well as on the ground eliminates the 
requirement for mutual visibility of spacecraft 
and LUT (launch umbilical tower) while a dis- 
tress transmission is taking place. This proc- 
essor represents an immediate and consider- 
able saving of money on the number of earth 
stations needed for full global coverage. 

The updated ELT has been submitted by 
the FAA for public comment; the device in- 
corporates the specifications of the Radio 
Technical Commission for Aeronautics, in- 
cluding a monitor in the cockpit so that a 
pilot will know when his ELT is activated for 
any reason. 



an immediate effect on the SARSAT program. 
Satellite programs have several stages, known 
as test, launch, demonstration, transition, and 
operations. 

"The international demonstration phase 
will end this August," says Fred Flatow, 
SARSAT mission manager at the Goddard 
Space Flight Center in Maryland, "but we are 
planning to continue the demonstration phase 
with this new experimental 406-mHz system. 
The 121.5 will probably be discontinued." 

Other things will change, too. The use of 
Hewlett-Packard 1000s at the SARSAT mis- 
sion control center at Scott Air Force Base, Il- 
linois, is, according to Flatow, one of them. 
"We are in the process of defining what the 
ultimate operational ground system should be 
like, and we are looking at many other com- 
puters. We already have two H-Ps lashed to- 
gether and are buying a third one, but they are 
much too small to take care of the job." 




"Assuming that there is no argument with 
the proposal, then it will be adapted as a 
technical standard order," confirms Bernard 
Geier, manager of the general aviation and 
commercial division of the FAA. The higher- 
power, improved-frequency 406-mHz trans- 
mitter will then become commercially avail- 
able for about $500. For the money, the pilot/ 
mariner will get 95-percent probability of sig- 
nal detection, with a signal accuracy range of 
within two kilometers and the ability to store 
up to four hundred distress signals. "At some 
future time we may require that all aircraft be 
fitted with the new units only," says Geier, 
"but that hasn't been determined yet." 

"To be really effective," emphasizes Clark, 
"it has to be lightweight so that you can carry 
it on an airplane, and the user has to be able to 
afford it. We don't want another engineering- 
success-and-operational-failure type of 
thing." 

The FAA's move toward making the supe- 
rior 406-mHz unit the ELT of choice will have 



For Flatow, "a truly operational system 
will have a specific configuration — so many 
satellites in orbit, a worldwide system of 
ground stations, and so on. The transition 
phase is one where we are going to build to- 
ward that— develop the real configuration of 
the ultimate system. I don't believe anyone 
can guarantee now how many satellites will be 
in orbit. The managerial shape of the ultimate 
system— whether it will be run by the U.S., 
run by the four partners now in the system, or 
be a worldwide organization a la the U.N. — 
has not been set. We're going to continue run- 
ning the system the way we have it now, 
building more ground stations, getting more 
participants in, working out the shape of the 
ultimate system, and putting that in place. The 
transitional phase is one of building and firm- 
ing up the organizational framework." 

The "operational" phase of the program is 
scheduled to begin officially in 1990. While 
still "demonstrating," COSPAS-SARSAT 
has saved 180 lives as of this writing. AC 



180 



Unnm 



MAY 1984 



World Center 



■continued from page 175. 



the norm just as its modernistic headquarters 
stands out from the elegant seventeenth-century 
buildings that line avenue Matignon. 

The center is concerned with the practical 
implementation of computers and the dissemi- 
nation of information and knowledge about 
computers. An example of the latter is a coop- 
erative research program begun in February 
1983 with the country of Colombia called 
"Universite a distance." The center has a 
similar program with Senegal. 

The Centre Mondial' s headquarters pro- 
vides a glimpse of the organization's philoso- 
phies in action. Computers, say the center's 
organizers, should be accessible to everyone, 
even those who come in off the street. And in- 
deed, as you walk through the center's glass 
front doors, you enter a large room filled with 
several brands of microcomputers, available 
to anyone who chooses to explore their func- 
tions and features. 

Usually this room is filled with both young 
and old Parisians exploring Logo, language 
skills, and other microcomputer applications. 
It's a kind of high-tech playground for all 
ages; though, as you'd find at a playground 
of the more conventional kind, there are of- 
ten more young people in evidence than older 




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ones. A multilingual receptionist is avail- 
able to answer questions. The rest of the 
building houses the administrative personnel 
of the center. 

With the help of people like Raj Reddy, the 
center's scientific director, the Centre Mon- 
dial organizes and implements projects de- 
signed to bring the power of computing to the 
poorer, less-developed nations of the world. 
Reddy divides his time between overseeing 
the center's research activities and directing 
the robotics institute at Carnegie-Mellon Uni- 
versity in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The cen- 
ter has assembled about a hundred research- 
ers, several in Paris and the rest scattered 
around the world, and put at their disposal 
several powerful computers. 

One of the Centre Mondial's most ambi- 
tious projects is the development of a com- 
puter system to provide medical assistance in 
the small, extremely poor African nation of 
Chad. Center scientists have written a pro- 
gram that diagnoses and recommends treat- 
ment for leprosy, malnutrition, tuberculosis, 
meningitis, postabortion infections, and so on. 
Medical personnel with minimal training 
merely answer simple questions posed by the 
computer about a patient's medical history 
and symptoms. 



personnel to use them will be a simple matter. 

The Centre Mondial has also donated a 
number of microcomputers to educational ex- 
periments in France and other countries. Last 
year, fifty computers were put at the disposal 
of youngsters in a tough neighborhood of 
Marseille. This effort has helped to reduce 
juvenile delinquency there. Another program 
begun late last year involves taking the five 
hundred brightest graduates of French tech- 
nical schools and having them teach computer 
skills to the unemployed as part of the grad- 
uates' required year of military duty. 

After a somewhat shaky start— the two 
principal scientists of the center, whose MIT 
credentials added credibility to the organiza- 
tion, quit as a result of disagreements over how 
the center should be run— the Centre Mondial 
seems to be accomplishing some of the goals 
that were set at its inception. But, according to 
Reddy, the true harvest is still to come. 

Researchers at the Centre Mondial are 
convinced that as computer technology ad- 
vances there will be even more effective ways 
to aid those who stand to benefit the most. 
They see voice synthesis and analysis as hav- 
ing particular promise in the Third World, 
where the majority of people are unlettered. A 
farmer, for instance, would verbally ask the 




The center is currently adapting the pro- 
gram to run on a battery-powered notebook- 
sized portable computer. A further enhance- 
ment of the system would be the use of Smart 
Cards— French-developed credit cards with 
microprocessors that store information. Each 
patient of a particular clinic would be issued a 
card containing his medical history stored on a 
chip. Then, when a patient returned to a clinic, 
only the most recent information would have 
to be entered. 

The computer system in Chad— which 
should be implemented late this year- 
addresses the problem of native medical per- 
sonnel leaving a poor country once they are 
trained. Once the system is installed, the com- 
puters will not be transient, and training new 



computer for information on planting tech- 
niques and get the answer through a voice syn- 
thesizer. Since the problems of language and 
localizing hardware could be virtually elimi- 
nated, the sharing of technology would hap- 
pen much faster. 

Reddy himself grew up in a poor farming 
village near Madras in India. His rise to the 
position of an international authority on robots 
and computers is the kind of scenario that the 
center would like to see happen for others like 
him who may not otherwise get the opportu- 
nity to develop and use their abilities. The Cen- 
tre Mondial Informatique et Ressource Hu- 
maine is an ambitious group, the results of 
whose efforts should be in evidence for many 
years to come. DH 



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•IBM STYLE A Fits: IBM-PC/XT, COMPAQ and LEADING EDGE. 
"IBM STYLE B Fits: COLUMBIA, OLIVETTI. CORONA. TAVA, IVY, PRONTO, SILICON VALLEY 
MICRO, NORTH STAR DIMENSION, LOGICAL L-XT, IMP and SPERRY-PC. 



<£>3 

Call Toll Free 

1-800-231-5413 

California 1-800-523-5441 

DEALER INQUIRIES INVITED 

CREATIVE ° r Order To: 
COMPUTER P O. Box 85152-MB 134 
PRODUCTS " San Diego, CA 92138 

We accept VISA, MC, AMEX or checks. 
$1.95 Shipping Fee. 

Apple/Quickfile-Apple Computer. Inc. IBM-International Business Machines, Osborne-Osborne Computer Corp, 
Kaypro-Non Linear Systems. Wordstar/Mailmerge-MicroPro International. Visicalc-Visicorp. Supercalc-Sorcim. 
Easywriter ll-lnformation Unlimited Software. dBase ll-Ashton-Tate Multiplan-Microsoft. 1-2-3-Lotus Development 
Corp. Perfect Writer/Perfect Filer/Perfect Calc-Perfect Software. Personal Pearl-Pearlsoft. PieWriter-Hayden 
Software Co. Compaq-Compaq Computer Corp © CREATIVE COMPUTER PRODUCTS 1983 




■ 



182 




□ A Buck, a Franc, a Yen, a Pound. The 

Department of Commerce is making econom- 
ic reports available to U.S. businesspeople 
who are engaged in selling computers and 
peripherals overseas. The reports, which vary 
in length and price, describe market size, 
trends, and prospects for makers of main- 
frames, plotters, card readers, modems, and 
the like. Publication dates of the available 
reports range from 1977 to 1983. Newly gath- 
ered data to be published this year, however, 
will pinpoint export markets for minis and 
micros in fourteen countries and software and 
services prospects in five— France, Finland, 
Norway, the Netherlands, and the United 
Kingdom. The research is carried out by con- 
sultants, working under contract and aided by 
U.S. embassy personnel. The information is 
assembled from government statistics, spe- 
cialized periodicals, and interviews with trade 
associations and computer firms based in the 
country in question. The reports cover about 
two-thirds of the approximately three dozen 
nations with which the United States en- 
courages high-technology trade. Prices range 
from $10 for a twelve-page summary on a sin- 
gle country to $176 for an exhaustive docu- 



tun an 

ment containing profiles of twenty-two na- 
tions. Midsize in-depth studies of a single 
country run $50 to $160. For a free catalog, 
contact the U.S. Department of Commerce's 
International Trade Administration or any 
ITA district office. JP 

□ Big Brother's Books Are Watching You. 
Since last month's Newspeak feature on 
Orwell and Nineteen Eighty-four, three more 
publications concerning the English author 
and his dystopian novel have come to our at- 
tention. The Big Brother Book of Lists 
published by Price/Stern/Sloan is a collection 
of 147 lists, ninety anecdotes, thirty-seven 
quotes, nine chronologies, three dozen glos- 
saries, and a dozen Conrad and Mauldin car- 
toons on the theme of the invasion of privacy. 
On Nineteen Eighty-four, edited by Peter 
Stansky and published by W.H. Freeman and 
Company, includes twenty-two essays by 
Stanford professors comparing today's 
realities and Orwell's vision. 1984: Spring, A 
Choice of Futures, written by Arthur C. 
Clarke and published in hardcover by Del 
Rey, is a collection of past speeches and 
essays that suggest a considerably less omi- 
nous view than Orwell's. 

□ Follow the Yellow Brick Road. The 1984 
Kansas Computer Exhibition, to be held June 
8-10 in Wichita, will include a Robotics Con- 
ference. The conference will feature speakers, 
demonstrations, and exhibits with an emphasis 
on personal, aerospace, and agricultural appli- 
cations of robotics. In addition to the confer- 



MAY 1984 



ence, the exhibition— which is the largest an- 
nual computer event in Kansas — will feature 
seminars, hardware and software demonstra- 
tions, and vendor exhibitions of computer- 
related products and services from in and 
around Kansas. For more information, contact 
the exhibition's sponsor, the Wichita Group, 
in Wichita, Kansas. 

□ Winston Smith Meets Caligula. As 

reported in last month's Newspeak, produc- 
tion has started in England on a new film ver- 
sion of Nineteen Eighty-four. What we didn't 
report is that John Hurt (Alien, The Elephant 
Man, I, Claudius) has been signed to play the 
role of Winston Smith, the story's protagonist. 

□ Maple Leaf Mechanicals. The Third Ca- 
nadian CAD/CAM and Robotics Exposition 
and Conference will be held June 19-21 in 
Toronto, Canada. Conference topics include 
justifying robots to management, robotics 
education, robot socioeconomic considera- 
tions, and robotic engineering and applica- 
tions. For more information, contact Hugh F. 
Macgregor and Associates in Toronto. Hi 



fl E W S P E A K 
STAFF 

Editor David Hunter 

Contributors Andrew Christie, Jane 
Greenstein, Judith Pfeffer 



THERE'S ONE HYPOTHESIS THAT DOESN'T NEED TESTING- 
DAISY PROFESSIONAL MEETS YOUR DATA ANALYSIS 
NEEDS! 



Regressions (5 types) 



Residual Analysis 



Data Analysis Interactive SYstem brings powerful 
analytical capabilities to your personal computer. Daisy 
Professional is ready and willing to work on the data 
analysis problems of researchers, educators, business 
planners, scientists, 
marketers, govern- 
ment analysts, and 
students. 

Requires: Apple* II 
Plus or Apple lie. 

Price: $199.95 

A separate utility is 
available for $99.95 
to interface with 
Multiplan™ and 
General Manager, 
and to download from 
mainframes. 




Model Validation 



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Correlations 



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CAPABILITIES 




Ease-of-Use 



Spreadsheet-style Data 
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Handles Missing Data 



21 Math Transforms 



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Scatter and Sequence Plots, 
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PROGRAM FEATURES 



Fast Data File Access 



Use of Apple lie Keyboard 



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Interfaces with VisiCalc ™, 
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Master™ through DIF Files 



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Capabilities of your Printer 



Clear, Detailed Manual 
with Examples 



SYSTEM FEATURES 



Software Dept. No. ST For direct orders add $3.00 shipping and handling. (Calif, residents add sales tax.) 

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RAINBOW COMPUTIN^INC. Northridge, CA 91324 Multiplan is a registered trademark ot Microsoft Corp. 

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(213) 349-0300 or (800) 423-5441 (except Calif.) OB Master is a registered trademark of DB Master Associates. 

•Apple is a registered trademark oi Apple Computer. Inc. UltraTerm is the registered trademark of Videx. Inc. 



Enter the FORTH dimension. 




Forth is fast 
Forth is 
flexible. 

Forth is easy to learn and use. 

For Insoft, with 
all the intelli 
gence, imagination and 
understanding of end 
user needs that's made him 
a hero among Apple affecio- 
nados, Paul Lutus has taken 
the best of Forth, added many 
familiar Applesoft 6 commands, and 
created a family of programming 
languages designed specifically for 
the Apple* computer. 

GraFORTlT sets 
imagination in motion. 

GraFORTH blends with and exploits 
the unique characteristics of the 
Apple computer to turn mind's eye 
imaginings into real-time two and 
three-dimensional animated mas- 
terpieces. Planes fly. Planets spin. 
Boats sail off into the sunset. 
Quickly. Easily With high resolution 
color quality that's absolutely 
uncanny. 

And, Insoft's GraFORTH 
Animation Guide details the learning 
process step by step: 

Line, plot* and fill commands. 
Character graphics creation. Turtle- 
graphics. 3-D animation. Music 
synthesis, too. There's even a library 



of the Apple com- 
puter's capabilities. 

Electric Duet " 
— another 
Lutus original. 



of animation 
demonstrations 
written by Paul 
Lutus to^fully reveal the capabilities 
of the GraFORTH program — and 
the Apple computer. 

TransFORTH II B™— a new 
dimension in business/ 
science software. 

Quite simply, TransFORTH II B is one 
of the most efficient business and 
scientific programming languages 
available for the Apple computer. 

It is modular, structured, and fast. 
Faster, in fact, than either Applesoft 
or Integer Basic. 

It is compact, occupying about 
V&th the RAM space required for 
PASCAL. 

And, a sophisticated Input/ 
Output system, DOS 3.3 compati- 
bility and 9-digit floating point 
operation provide all the flexibility 
necessary to take full advantage 



Paul Lutus is not only a respected 
programmer, but an accomplished 
musician, as well. So it's no surprise 
that he would develop the first — 
and finest — two-voice music syn- 
thesizer program specifically de- 
signed for the Apple computer. 

With Electric Duet, anyone can 
create harmonious compositions — 
or play a Lutus original — utilizing 
five octaves, four instrument voices, 
and either the built-in Apple speaker 
or an auxiliary sound system. 

Electric Duet. It's the perfect 
accompaniment to the GraFORTH 
animation program, a versatile in- 
strument for the budding composer, 
and a lot of fun for everyone. 

GraFORTH. TransFORTH. Electric 
Duet. They're exciting new dimen- 
sions in programming, developed by 
Paul Lutus exclusively for Insoft. 




soft' 



"Plotting function requires the Hewlett-Packard 7470 
plotter and a GraFORTH plotter driver. 



Apple and Applesoft are registered trademarks of Apple 
Computer, Inc. GraFORTH, TransFORTH and Electric Duet 
are trademarks of Insoft, Inc. 

All products operate on Apple II, II Plus, He and III. 



Insoft, Inc. 

P.O.Box 608 
Beaverton, OR 97075 
(503) 641-5223 



PUT HEX 

VW PERSPECTIVE I 

\W PERSPECTIVE I 
\W PI RSl^L C : I ive I 

IpvA V trvSi tC I l\X f— I 

,\.S:S7/V1/i/V LIMES"- THE BOOYC 

LIMES THE BOOK 

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ASSEMBLY LIMES THE BOOK 

/ASSL/V1B/ V LIMES'- I t \E BOOK 
ASSEMBLY LIMES ^THEBOOK 

/A SSE/ViBLV LIMES THE BQQVC 



Tens of thousands have fol- 
lowed this man in his teachings 
of Assembly language. Many 
have gone on to become re- 
nowned hex mavens them- 
selves. If you are presently 
seeking deeper satisfaction 
from a high-level language that 
begins to show its limitations, 
look no further. The answer 
lies within the pages of this 
book. Presented in a style that 
welcomes the personality and 
humanity of the reader. As 
Roger (we call him Mr. Wag- 
ner) comments in his book: 



"Many people have re- 
marked that our choice of ten 
as a number base is related to 
the fact that we have ten fin- 
gers on our hands. One can 
only guess how a different set 
of circumstances would have 
profoundly changed our lives. 
Speculating, for instance, on 
which two commandments 
would have been omitted had 
we only eight fingers is enough 
to keep one awake at night." 

Do a little binary explora- 
tion. Let this book be your 
guide. 




Roger Wagner on his recent tour 
of New Guinea 



Assembly Lines: The Book 
272 pages 

ISBN 88701-000-8 
$19.95 



Softalk Books 

P.O. Box 60 

North Hollywood, CA 

91603 

Please add $1 .50 shipping/handling 
per book ordered ($21 .45 total). 
California residents add 6.5 percent 
sales tax ($22.75 total). 



MAY 1984 



185 



F-A—S T-A-LK 



Fastalk is a quick guide to popular, specialized, 
new, and classic software. When you need a particu- 
lar kind of program or just want to see what's new, 
Fastalk is the place to look for fast answers. 

If a program has been reviewed in Softalk, it car- 
ries the issue date of the review in italics at the end of 
its listing, and the capsule description given reflects 
the published review. 

A new software entry, which must be of profes- 
sional quality to be included, is designated by a check 
mark preceding its name. A new entry loses its check 
mark after its first appearance and drops out of 
Fastalk after one to three appearances (depending on 
genre) if it fails to gain popularity. 

A bullet preceding a title indicates a program that 
Softalk has designated as a classic, based on its ability 
to stand up over time, its significance for its time 
(breaking new ground or introducing a new genre), or 
its archetypal qualities. 

Other entries in Fastalk are there either by virtue 
of current activity (the programs are selling at least as 
much as the least-selling entry on any of the bestseller 
charts) or because they are representative of the best 
of programs for a special interest or need (such as 
card games or non-Basic-specific language terminal 
programs). 

Softalk may arbitrarily omit any package from 
Fastalk, whether or not it meets the foregoing 
criteria. 



Adventure 



Adventuresome story games in which players must deduce 
commands, make maps, and solve logical puzzles. 

• Adventure. Crowther, Woods. The original text 
adventure, created on mainframe, contributed to by 
many over a long time. Very logical within fantasy 
framework, excellent puzzles, maps; complex, con- 
voluted, and great. Several publishers: Microsoft, 
10700 Northup Wy., Bellevue, WA 98004. $28.95. 
Apple, 20525 Mariani Ave., Cupertino, CA 95014. 
$35. Frontier Computing, Box 402, 666 N. Main St., 
Logan, UT 84321. $10. 

The Coveted Mirror. Berns, Thomason. Nicely 
drawn characters, arcade subgames, and fun, logical 
puzzles enliven nonviolent medieval adventure. Hu- 
morous and animated. Penguin, Box 311, Geneva, IL 
60134. $34.95. 11/83. 

✓ Crypt of Medea. Britto, Lamb. A real horror 
adventure: blood and body parts are everywhere, 
death loiters in every shadow. Thin plot. Not for the 
squeamish; not to be played just before, or just after, 
meals. Sir-tech, 6 Main St., Ogdensburg, NY 13669. 
$34.95. 4/84. 

• Cyborg. Berlyn. Text adventure with brief action 
skill game hidden in plot. As a futuristic part man, 
part robot, you're lost in a strange forest, desperately 
needing food and power. At its release, in its realism 
and use of true plot, Cyborg represented one of the 
most significant advances in adventuring since the 
original Adventure. Sentient, Box 4929, Aspen, CO 
81612. $32.95. 11/81. 

Deadline. Blank, Lebling. Episode one in a series of 
murder mysteries by the authors of the Zork trilogy. 
Includes inspector's casebook, lab report. Text. In- 
focom, 55 Wheeler St., Cambridge, MA 02138. 
$49.95. 8/82. 

Death in the Caribbean. Hess, Hess. Challenging 
quest for pirate treasure features a mischievous ghost, 
huge maze, lush graphics. Well worth it. Micro Lab, 
2699 Skokie Valley Rd., Highland Park, IL 60035. 
$35. 9/83. 



Enchanter. Blank, Lebling. First of trilogy sequel to 
Zorks expands interaction with other characters, goes 
above ground, increases use of logical magic. No big 
breakthroughs, but simply delightful. Infocom, 55 
Wheeler St., Cambridge, MA 02138. $49.95. 9/83. 

• Hi-Res Adventure #1: Mystery House. Williams. 
Whodunit in a Victorian mansion. First adventure 
with pictures. Two- word parser with logical com- 
prehension. Sierra On-Line, Sierra On-Line Building, 
Coarsegold, CA 93614. $24.95. 

• Hi-Res Adventure #2: The Wizard and the 
Princess. Williams, Williams. The king has offered 
half his kingdom to the one who will bring back the 
kidnapped princess. Cross mountains, deserts; battle 
the wizard to claim your reward. Sierra On-Line, 
Sierra On-Line Building, Coarsegold, CA 93614. 
$32.95. 11/80. 

Infidel. Berlyn. Excellent puzzles and a surprising 
bad-guy hero in well- written treasure hunt. Infocom, 
55 Wheeler St., Cambridge, MA 02138. $49.95. 
11/83. 

Kabul Spy. Wilson. Cold War espionage adventure 
in which you must slip into Afghanistan to rescue a 
physicist before the commies make him talk. Sirius, 
10364 Rockingham Dr., Sacramento, CA 95827. 
$34.95. 

Planetfall. Meretzky. A lovable robot steals the show 
in this science-fiction text adventure. Includes many 
outstanding puzzles, rich, colorful, intelligent text. 
Infocom, 55 Wheeler St., Cambridge, MA 02138. 
$49.95. 8/83. 

• Prisoner 2. Mullich, EduWare. Totally reland- 
scaped but loyal version of original game: full-color 
hi-res graphics added, puzzles reworded, obstacles 
expanded. Sophisticated and difficult exercise in in- 
timidation with elements of satire. Escape from an 
island requires player to solve logical puzzles, over- 
come obstacles, and answer riddles. Excellent com- 
puter fare; nothing else like it. Peachtree Software, 
3445 Peachtree Rd. N.E., #830, Adanta, GA 30326. 
$32.95. The Prisoner, 3/81; Prisoner 2, 10/82. 
The Quest. Snell, Toler, Rea. As the king's newest 
advisor, you must accompany a champion on a 
dragon-slaying mission. Champion, parser accept ad- 
vice in full and multiple sentences. Penguin, Box 311, 
Geneva, IL 60134. $34.95. 9/83. 

• S.A.G.A. Series. Adams. Scott Adams's pro- 
totypical adventures— 12 in all— spruced up with 
100-color graphics and Votrax vocals. Fun, not 
always logical, very story-oriented series. Each 
adventure has its own theme and often exotic locale. 
They map small but score big on imagination. Adven- 
ture International, Box 3435, Longwood, FL 32750. 
$29.95 each. 7/82. 

S Sorcerer. Meretzky. Sequel to Enchanter. Navi- 
gate a 3-D maze, part the Red Sea, wax floors, avoid 
traps, and cast spells to rescue the guild master from a 
demon. Delightful. Infocom, 55 Wheeler St., Cam- 
bridge, MA 02138. $49.95. 

Starcross. Science-fiction prose adventure that comes 
wrapped in a flying saucer. Set in the year 2186, main 
puzzle is to discover raison d 'etre of miniworld aster- 
oid. Likable, engaging. Superior puzzles. Infocom, 
55 Wheeler St., Cambridge, MA 02138. $39.95. 
11/82. 

Suspended. Berlyn. Well-plotted adventure demands 
control of six independent robots who can act 
simultaneously. Intelligent, challenging exercise in 
logic. A milestone. Infocom, 55 Wheeler St., Cam- 
bridge, MA 02138. $49.95. 4/83. 

• Swordthrust Series. Set of adventures, seven so 
far, that integrate fantasy role playing. Create one 



character, make friends in each new adventure, battle 
monsters and achieve goals together. Good stories, 
fun to map. Vocabulary no mystery, but puzzles are. 
Single character goes through all. CE Software, 801 
73rd St., Des Moines, IA 50312. Number 1 pre- 
requisite for rest. Each adventure, $29.95. 8/82. 
Transylvania. Antiochia. Some of best graphics ever 
in a hi-res adventure. Excellent puzzles and logic— no 
unfair tricks. Enjoyable. Penguin, Box 311, Geneva, 
IL 60134. $34.95. 10/82. 

Witness. Galley. Interactive mystery adventure set in 
1938 reflects the style of pulp detective fiction popu- 
lar then. Fun packaging and fun to play, although less 
complex than Deadline. A good step forward for an 
infant genre. Infocom, 55 Wheeler St., Cambridge, 
MA 02138. $49.95 . 7/83. 

• Zork I, H, ffl. Blank, Lebling. Text lives! Three 
masterpieces of logic and grand adventure to revel in. 
Hard, logical puzzles with erudite parser that 
understands complete compound sentences and ques- 
tions, has amazing vocabulary. / and // use standard 
scoring, standard goals; /// has unique point system, 
and benevolence pays. Infocom, 55 Wheeler St., 
Cambridge, MA 02138. $39.95. Zork I, 6/81; Zork 
II, 3/82; Zork III, 9/82. 



Business 



<^ AppleWorks. Lissner. Word processor, database, 
and spreadsheet— each full-size, full-featured. Holds 
several files on "desktop." Proportionally spaced 
type. A winner. For lie, lie. Apple, 20525 Mariani 
Ave., Cupertino, CA 95014. $250. 4/84. 
BPI General Accounting. Performs like General 
Ledger. Prints checks, permits greater flexibility in 
handling accounts, produces 40 reports. 80 columns. 
Apple, 20525 Mariani Ave., Cupertino, CA 95014. 
$395. 

BPI System. Popular six-module business package; 
programs also available separately. Includes General 
Ledger (a bestseller), accounts receivable, accounts 
payable, payroll, inventory control, and job costing. 
Apple, 20525 Mariani Ave., Cupertino, CA 95014. 
$395 each; job costing, $595. 
dBase II. Speedy relational database management 
system. Requires SoftCard. Ashton-Tate, 9929 W. 
Jefferson Blvd., Culver City, CA 90230. $700. 
is Expense Account Manager. Tracks yearly 
expenses— such as business trips, including mileage, 
lodging, places visited, purpose of trip, business- 
related entertainment— for tax and other record- 
keeping purposes. Easily customized. Adaptive, 1868 
Cavell Ave., Highland Park, IL 60035. $150. 
Magicalc. Graves. Electronic spreadsheet with 
automatic page formatting and support of additional 
memory boards up to 512K. Compatible with Visi- 
Calc and Magic Window II. Artsci, 5547 Satsuma 
Ave., North Hollywood, CA 91601. $149.95. 11/83. 
Multiplan. Easy-to-learn electronic worksheet using 
plain-English commands. Powerful modeling and 
presentation capabilities. For use in analysis, 
forecasting, technical engineering, and the home. 
Versions 1.04 and up use 80 columns and extended 
memory on the lie. Microsoft, 10700 Northup Wy., 
Bellevue, WA 98004. $275. 

PFS:File. Page, Roberts. User controls data in totally 
unstructured database. Up to 32 pages (screens) of in- 
formation in each record. He version has 80 columns, 
u/lc. Software Publishing, 1901 Landings Dr., Moun- 
tain View, CA 94043. $125. 10/80. 
PFS:Graph. Chin, Hill. Works alone or interfaces 



TRADE SOFTWARE YOU NO LONGER WANT 
FOR PROGRAMS YOU DO WANT - AND SAVE ! 

Join The National Software Exchange-Charter Membership only $10.00! 

Current Software Exchange List 



As a Member of The National Software 
Exchange, you can make as many ex- 
changes as you wish-for software of 
equal value. The money you save on 
your first exchange or purchase will 
more than pay for your whole year's 
Membership! And your satisfaction is 
guaranteed-or your money back. 

Our only charge to you is $5.00 for 
each software program you send us for 
exchange, plus handling and postage. 
We exchange only original software, ac- 
companied by original documentation. 
And our Current Software Exchange 
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ferent programs to send us or ask for. 
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All the software programs listed here are acceptable for exchange until 8/31/84. Please be 
sure that the value of software you send us equals the value of programs you request. 



PROGRAMS 


VALUE 


COMPUTERS 


PROGRAMS 


VALUE 


COMPUTERS 


Coveted Mirror 


19 95 


AP 


Gumball 


29 95 


AP 




Cyborq 


32-95 


AR AT COM, PC 


Lode Runner 


34 95 


AR AT, COM 




Dark Crystal 


37 95 


AP, AT 


Miner 2049er 


39 95 


AP PC 




Deadline 


49 95 


AR AT, COM, PC 


Minit Man 


19 95 


AP 




Death in the 
Caribbean 


35 00 


AP 


Pinball Construction 
Set 


39 95 


AP 




Enchanter 


49 95 


AR AT COM, PC 


Raster Blaster 


29 95 


AP 




Mystery House 


1995 


AP 


Upper Reaches 


1995 


ARAT, COM, 


PC 


Wizard & Princes 


29 95 


AR AT 


of Apshai 


Infidel 


49 95 


AR AT COM, PC 


Serpentine 


34 95 


AP AT COM 


PC 


Masquerade 


34 95 


AP 


Seafox 


29 95 


AR AT, COM 




Planettall 


49 95 


AP AT, COM, PC 


Shamus 


34 95 


AP AT. COM 




Prisoner 2 


32.95 


AR AT 


Sneaker 


29 95 


AR AT 




Quest 


19 95 


AP 


Spare Chanqe 


34 95 


AP 




SAGA Series 


39 95 


AP, AT 


Super Bunny 


29 95 


AP 




Starcross 


39 95 


AR AT, COM, PC 


Match & Social 
Studies 


19 95 


AP, PC 




Suspended 


49 95 


AP, AT, COM, PC 




Wayout 


39 95 


AP, AT 




Atlantis 


39 95 


AP 




EduWare Algebras 


39 95 


AP. PC 




Witness 


49.95 


AR AT COM, PC 




Alphabet Zoo 


29 95 


AP AT COM 


PC 


Zorkl, II, III 


39 95 


AR AT COM, PC 


EduWare Decimals 


49 95 


AP 




Ultima I 


34 95 


AR AT 




Delta Drawinq 


49 95 


AR AT, COM 


PC 


Ultima II 


59 95 


AR AT 


Pacemaker 


34 95 


AR AT, COM 


PC 


Ultima III 


59 95 


ARAT.C0M, PC 


Game Show 


39 95 


AR PC 




Wizardry 


49 95 


AR PC 




Hey Diddle Diddle 


29 95 


AP AT COM 


PC 


Wizardry: Knights of 
Diamonds 






34 95 


AP 


Hiqhrise 


30 00 


AP 




Wizardry: Legacy of 
Llylqamyn 


39 95 


AP 


In Search of Most 
Amazinq Thinq 


39 95 


AR AT, COM 


PC 


Odyssey 


30 00 


AP 


Kindercomp 


29 95 


AR AT, COM 


PC 


Temple of Apshai 


39 95 


AR AT, COM, PC 


Master Match 


39 95 


AR PC 




Alien Rain 


24 95 


AP 


Sports Facts 


19 95 


AP 




Apple Panic 


29 95 


AR AT, PC 


Rhymes & Riddles 


29 95 


AP AT, COM 


PC 


Sherwood Forest 


34 95 


AP 


Rocky 's Boots 


49 95 


AP 




Bouncing Kamunnas 19 95 


AP 


Snooper Troops 


44 95 


AP AT COM 


PC 


Buzzard Bait 


34.95 


AR PC 


Stickybear ABC 


39.95 


AP 




Cavern Creatures 


29.95 


AP 


Stickybear Numbers 39 95 


AP 




Choplifter 


34 95 


AR AT, COM 


Stickybear Bop 


39.95 


AP 




Crime Wave 


19 95 


AP 


Stickybear Shapes 


39 95 


AP 




Crossfire 


29 95 


AP, AT PC 


Stickybear 
Opposites 


39 95 


AP 




Dino Eggs 


40 00 


AP, AT, COM, PC 




Story Machine 


34 95 


AR AT COM 


PC 


Oral 


34.95 


AP, AT, TJOM 


Tic Tac Show 


39 95 


AP PC 




Fat City 


39 95 


AP 




Type Attack 


39 95 


AR AT. COM 


PC 


Froqger 


34 95 


ARAT.C0M, PC 


Typinq Tutor II 


24 95 


AP 




Gorqon 


39 95 


AP 




Broadsides 


39 95 


AP 













PROGRAMS 



VALUE COMPUTERS 



Casino 


3 <j 


: )S 


AP 






Castle Wolfenstein 


29 


95 


AP 


AT. PC 




Chivalry 


49 


95 


AP 






Computer Ambush 


59 


95 


AP 






Computer Baseball 


39 


95 


AP 


COM, PC 




Eagles 


39 


95 


AP 


AT COM 




Fliqht Simulator II 


33 


50 


AP 


AT. COM 




Fortress 


34 


95 


AR 


AT 




Solitaire & Cribbaqe 


34 


95 


AP 






Millionaire 


59 


95 


AP 


AT, PC 




North Atlantic '86 


59 


95 


AP 






Pensate 


19 


95 


AP 


AT COM 




Sarqon III 


49 


95 


AP 


PC 




Titan Empire 


34 


MS 


AP 






Othello: Odin 


49 


95 


AP 


AT. COM. 


PC 


Chess 


69 


95 


AP 


AT COM 


PC 


Checkers 


49 


95 


AP 


AT COM. 


PC 


Music Maker 


39 


95 


AP 






Mask of the Sun 


39 


95 


AP 






AE 


34 


95 


AP 


AT 




BC's Quest for Tires 


34 


95 


AR 


AT 




Wizard of Words 


39 


95 


AP 






Cannonball Blitz 


29 


95 


AP 


COM 




Aztec 


39 


95 


AP 


COM 




Cranston Manor 


29 


95 


AP 






MicroMath Series 


29 


95 


AP 


AT COM 




Bandits 


34 


95 


AP 


AT 




Success with Math 












Series 


24 


95 


AP 


AT. COM 




Crisis Mountain 


34 


95 


AP 


AT 




Transylvania 


19 


95 


AP 






Gold Rush 


34 


95 


AP 


AT 




SATEnqlishl.il, III 


30 


00 


AP 


COM (I only) 


Murder By The 












Dozen 


34 


95 


AP, 


COM. PC 




Police Artist 


34 


95 


AP 






Story Builder 


24 


95 


AP 


AT, COM. 


PC 


Spy's Demise 


19 


95 


AP 


AT COM 




Reading 












Comprehension 


24 


95 


AR 


AT 




Snack Attack 


29 


95 


AR 


PC 





AP= Apple AT=Atan 

COM = Commodore PC -IBM PC 



Join now... and save! 

The National Software Exchange Inc. ia Trinity Place, suite isn, New York, ny 10006 



ST 



□ YES. I want to join the National Software Exchange at 
the special Charter Membership rate of just $10.00 for a 
one-year Membership. Please send me my Membership 
Card plus list of Exchange Benefits. 
Complete Numbers 1 and 2 if you are sending software for 
exchange. Complete Numbers 3 and 4 if you are ordering 
Programs of the Month or eguipment at our special dis- 
counts. Complete Number 5 on all exchanges and orders. 

■J _ I am sending you the following original software 
" diskette(s) in good working order, plus original docu- 
mentation for exchange, (No more than 1 program of 
a kind). Please list program title and dollar value from 
the Current Software Exchange List. 



3_ I want to purchase your Programs of the Month that I have 
" checked, at up to 47% off list price. 



5 # Please enclose check or money order with this Sign-Up 
' Coupon plus any software you wish to exchange. 



1 


$ 


2 


$ 


3 


$ 


Total value of software I am sending 


$ ! 





Dig Dug 


JAV35~ 


$ 34.95 




Centipede 


JA+*S%~ 


$ 34.95 




Ms Pac-Man 




$ 38 95 




Zaxxon 




$ 29.95 




Lotus I, II. Ill 


JOSB-oXT 


$325 00 




d-Basell 




$370.00 




Sub-total 


$ 


NY State residents add sales tax 


$ 


Add $2 50 ea. purchase for 
shipping & handling 


$ 


PROGRAMS TOTAL 


$ 



1 Year Charter Membership 


$10.00 


Add $5 fee for each program 
you send us for exchange 


$ 


Add $2.50 shipping for each 
exchange sent to you 


$ 


Programs of the Month Total (Box 3) 


$ 


Equipment Total (Box 4) 


$ 


TOTAL AMOUNT DUE 


s 



NAME 



ADDRESS 



(please print) 



CITY 



2, Please send me in exchange the original software 
programs plus original documentation I have listed 
below in order of preference. 



I want your deep discount on the equipment I have 
checked. 



STATE 



ZIP 



L 



First Choices of Programs to send me 


$ Value 


1 


$ 


2 


$ 


3 


S 


Total value of software (1 st choice) 


$ 


Second Choices of Programs to send me 


$ Value 


1 


$ 


2 


$ 


3 


$ 


Total value of software (2nd choice) 


$ 



| JUKI LQ Printer J&Z&ttT 


$450.00 


Add $1 2 shipping & handling 


$ 



SIGNATURE 





Hayes 1200 

Baud Modem J$699tl0 


$52500 


Add $5 shipping & handling 
Sub-total 


$ 


$ 



TELEPHONE ( 

COMPUTER MAKE 



MODEL 



NY State residents add sales tax 
on purchase prices only 

EQUIPMENT TOTAL 



IMPORTANT! 

Please be certain that the titles of the software you send us 
or request from us appear on the Current Software Exchange 
List. All prices listed are subject to change without notice. 

Also be sure that the value of the software you send us 
equals the value of the programs you request. 

Allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. 
Money Back Guarantee! 



J 



MAY 1984 



sunn 



187 



with files created with PFS.File and VisiCalc. Pro- 
duces bar, line, and pie charts merging data from 
several sources. 80 columns and increased graphics 
support in He version. Software Publishing, 1901 
Landings Dr. , Mountain View , CA 94043 . $ 1 25 . 5/82. 
PFSrReport. Page. Powerful report generator 
designed for use with PFS:File. Sorts, calculates, 
totals, formats, and prints presentation-quality colum- 
nar reports. Software Publishing, 1901 Landings Dr., 
Mountain View, CA 94043. $125. 6/81. 
Quick File lie. Easy-to-use personal database filing 
system that generates reports, sorts. Fifteen fields; 
files as long as disk allows. He, two disk drives. Ap- 
ple, 20525 Mariani Ave. , Cupertino, CA 95014. $100. 
State of the Art System. Standalone or interfaceable 
modules for a 12-month accounting period. Includes 
General Ledger, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Pay- 
able, Payroll, Inventory Control ($495 each), Budget 
and Financial Reporting, Sales Invoicing ($395 each), 
and Professional Time and Billing ($795). State of the 
Art, 3183A Airway Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626. 
Accounts Receivable, 10/83. 

TKJSolver. Bricklin, Frankston. Modeling pro- 
gram from the creators of VisiCalc. Trades variables 
off against one another to find optimum balance of 
variables. Converts answers to specified units, gener- 
ates tables and graphs quickly. Difficult. Requires 
He, extended eighty-column card. Software Arts, 27 
Mica Ln., Wellesley, MA 02181. $399. 4/84. 
• VisiCalc. Bricklin, Frankston, Software Arts. 
Electronic worksheet for any problem involving 
numbers, rows, and columns. No programming nec- 
essary. VisiCorp, 2895 Zanker Rd., San Jose, CA 
95134. $250. 70/80. 

VisiCalc Advanced lie. Virtually the same as ad- 
vanced version for the Apple HJ. Create spreadsheet 
templates, provide uniform approach to forecasting, 
budgeting, and planning tasks for an entire organiza- 
tion. VisiCorp, 2895 Zanker Rd., San Jose, CA 
95134. $400. 

VisiTrend/VisiPlot. Kapor. Combines VisiPlot 
graphics with time-series manipulation, trend fore- 
casting, and descriptive statistics. VisiCorp, 2895 
Zanker Rd., San Jose, CA 95134. $259.95. 7/81. 



Communications 



ASCII Express: The Professional. Robbins, Blue. 
Greatly improved version of original modem software 
package features automatic redial, individual macro 
files, and conversion of Integer, Applesoft, or binary 
programs into text files. Works with a plethora of 
hardware. United Software Industries, 1880 Century 
Pk. E., Los Angeles, CA 90067. $129.95. 12/82. 
Data Capture 4.0. Copyable, modifiable smart-ter- 
minal program; compatible with Apple HI and most 
lower-case adapters. Southeastern Software, 6414 
Derbyshire Dr., New Orleans, LA 70126. $65. 7/81. 
P-Term: The Professional. Supports all Pascal- 
compatible interfaces, asynchronous serial cards, 
Apple-compatible modems, and baud rates up to 
2400. United Software Industries, 1880 Century Pk. 
E., Los Angeles, CA 90067. $129.95. 
Smartcom I. For the Micromodem He. Directs 
modem to place and answer calls, send and receive 
files with three protocols. Sends data to printer, stores 
three phone numbers, works with DOS 3.3, Pascal, 
and CP/M. Hayes, 5923 Peachtree Industrial Blvd., 
Norcross, GA 30092. $119. With Micromodem He, 
$329. 

Transend 1, 2, 3. mtelligent-terminal software with 
multiple hardware compatibility. Advanced, easy to 
use. / sends text only; menu-driven, limited editor. 2 
sends DOS files error-free, several files at once. 3 
does both and handles electronic mail with automatic 
redial, clock calendar, and password protection. Up- 
grade: difference in price between two packages plus 
$20 service fee. Transend, 2190 Paragon Dr., San 
Jose, CA 95131. /, $89; 2, $149; 3, $275. 9/82. 



Fantasy 



Role-playing games involving characters lhal develop through 
experience in adventuresome stories, and whose actions 
players determine via set commands. 

• Beneath Apple Manor. Worth. The original 
dungeon game for the Apple, created in 1978. Newly 
released version has hi-res, sound effects, a few more 
magic items, but still the classic game. Quality, 21601 
Marilla St., Chatsworth, CA 91311. $29.95. 2/83. 
Exodus: Ultima III. British. Super third installment 
of Ultima saga. Contains many features not found 
in Ultima II. Original score, wind and wave mo- 
tion, four characters who can interact, tactical com- 
bat, and full-color dungeons combine with much more 
solid, involved plot to make an engrossing fantasy. 
Origin Systems, Box 99, N. Andover, MA 01845. 
$54.95. 11/83. 

Knight of Diamonds. Greenberg, Woodhead. Se- 
cond scenario of Wizardry, requiring thirteenth-level 
characters from the original. Individual quests on 
each of six dungeon levels. Great. Sir-tech, 6 Main 
St., Ogdensburg, NY 13669. $34.95. 7/82. 
Legacy of Llylgamyn. Greenberg, Woodhead. Third 
scenario in classic Wizardry series. To save Llyl- 
gamyn, descendants of the adventurers of other Wiz- 
ardry scenarios (requires Overlord) must wrest a mys- 
tical orb from the dragon L'kbreth. New full-screen 
dungeon, Lisa-like information screens. Sir-tech, 6 
Main St., Ogdensburg, NY 13669. $39.95 . 7/83. 

• Odyssey: The Compleat Apventure. Clardy. Fan- 
tasy adventure far beyond one place and one setting. 
Castles, catacombs, an ocean voyage, and the orb of 
power. Synergistic, 830 N. Riverside Dr., #201, 
Renton, WA 98055. $30. 70/80. 

Standing Stones. Schmuckal, Sommers. Fifteen 
levels, 200 monsters, humor, and 3-D perspective in 
dungeon role-playing adventure. Electronic Arts, 
2755 Campus Dr., San Mateo, CA 94403. $40. 

• Temple of Apshai. Lead title in Dunjonquest 
series, winner 1981 Academy of Adventure Gaming 
Arts and Design "Computer Game of the Year" 
award. Epyx/ Automated Simulations, 1043 Kiel Ct., 
Sunnyvale, CA 94086. $39.95. 

• Ultima. British. Hi-res color adventure, progress- 
ing from Middle Ages to beyond the space age. A 
masterpiece. California Pacific, 757 Russell Blvd., 
Davis, CA 95616. $39.95. 6/87. 

Ultima II. British. Faster play in a bigger universe 
with a time-travel option. Typically British look and 
feel. Events are much more interdependent; larger 
realm of fantasy with more transactions available. 
Sierra On-Line, Sierra On-Line Building, Coarse- 
gold, CA 93614. $59.95. 

• Wilderness Campaign. Clardy. First fantasy game 
to leave the dungeon for the great outdoors; first in hi- 
res; first to bargain with merchants; and more. Syner- 
gistic, 830 N. Riverside Dr., #201, Renton, WA 
98055. $17.50. 

• Wizardry. Greenberg, Woodhead. Ultimate role- 
playing fantasy; ten-level maze in hi-res. Generate 20 
characters, six at a time on expeditions. Gripping 
game; superbly reproduced. Sir-tech, 6 Main St., 
Ogdensburg, NY 13669. $49.95. 8/87. 



Graphics 



Alpha Plot. Kersey, Cassidy. Hi-res graphics and 
text utility with optional xdraw cursor and propor- 
tional spacing. Beagle Bros, 4315 Sierra Vista, San 
Diego, CA 92103. $39.50. 

The Complete Graphics System. Pelczarski. A 
wealth of graphics tools at a reasonable price. Make 
2-D drawings with game paddles; add text in destruc- 
tive, nondestructive, or reverse modes; create 3-D 
figures and shape tables. Manual features complete 
outline of command structure. Penguin, Box 311, 



Geneva, IL 60134. $69.95. 7/87. 
Doublestuff. Bonfiglio, Joselow. Programming 
language similar to Applesoft designed for use with 
Apple's stunning double-resolution modes. Requires 
lie with B motherboard, 128K. Doublestuff Software 
Development, 2053 W. 11th St., Brooklyn, NY 
11223. $39.95. 72/85. 

Flow Charting. Patton. Elegantly solves problems of 
designing and printing flowcharts. Fun, easy-to-use, 
powerful. Patton and Patton, 340 Lassenpark Circle, 
San Jose, CA 95136. $138. 72/83. 
Flying Colors. Albinger, Norby. Track ball or joy- 
stick controls eleven brush-tips, sixteen diagonal and 
crosshatched color patterns, four solid colors, two 
blacks, two whites, circle and box functions, freehand 
drawing, and a micro mode for detail work. Friendly 
and fun. Computer Colorworks, 3030 Bridgeway, 
Sausalito, CA 94965. $39.95. 3/84. 
Fontpak 1-3. Additional character sets for use with 
Fontrix. Fontpak 1 for headline and decorative type, 
Fontpak 2 for art and technical type, Fontpak 3 for 
letterforms and posters. Data Transforms, 616 Wash- 
ington St., Denver, CO 80203. $20 each. 
Fontrix. Boker, Houston. Character generator cre- 
ates unlimited number of typefaces, uses them to 
write on a screen extended 16 times. Extremely sig- 
nificant development in graphics. Data Transforms, 
616 Washington St., Denver, CO 80203. $75. 7/83. 
The Graphics Magician. Jochumson, Lubar, Pel- 
czarski. Outstanding animation package consisting of 
picture editor and shape-table extender. Comes with 
utility program to transfer binary files. Penguin, Box 
311, Geneva, IL 60134. $59.95. 5/82. 
The Graphic Solution. Graphics editor and bit- 
mapping animation system using film-editing tech- 
niques. Save hi-res screen as standard DOS file. No 
programming knowledge necessary. Accent, 3750 
Wright PI., Palo Alto, CA 94306. $149.95 . 7/83. 
• LPS II. Superb hi-res-graphics drawing system 



Maxell 
Floppy Disks 

The Mini-Disks 
with maximum quality 




Call free 
(800) 235-4137 for 
prices and information. 




PACIFIC 
EXCHANGES 

100 Foothill Blvd 
San Luis Obispo CA 
93401 In Cal call 
(800)592-5935 or 
(805)543-1037 



188 

with light pen. Draw freehand or use circles and lines 
to create geometric shapes. Fill routine with colors 
and patterns; fun animation demo; programmable 
Pentrak driver. Gibson, 23192-D Verdugo Dr., La- 
guna Hills, CA 92653. $349. 10/82. 
Picture Writer. Brackett. Intended for kids five 
through fifteen. Uses joystick to draw lines, draw and 
squeeze circles and rectangles. Twenty-one colors, 
musical accompaniment. Possibly too difficult to con- 
trol for targeted users. Requires 64K. Scarborough 
Systems, 25 N. Broadway, Tarrytown, NY 10591. 
$39.95. 3/84. 

Special Effects. Pelczarski. Artist's graphic package 
for creating and enhancing computer graphics. With 
108 colors, 96 brushes, magnification and editing 
point-by -point. Reverse colors, create mirror images, 
move images. Penguin, Box 311, Geneva, IL 60134. 
$39.95. 3/82. 

Zoom Grafix. Holle. Graphics-printing utility allows 
display of picture on-screen prior to print; prints out 
selected portion at any size. Phoenix, 64 Lake Zurich 
Dr., Lake Zurich, IL 60047. $39.95. 2/82. 



Unnm 



MAY 1984 



Home 



Basic Accounting. Jarvis. Single-entry home ac- 
counting program, ideal for home budgeting. Per- 
forms inventories and automatic transactions, pro- 
vides graphics and a wide variety of reports. File 
names up to twenty-five characters. Firefighter, 
31245 La Bay a Dr., Westlake Village, CA 91362. 
$89. 4/84. 

• Crossword Magic. Crossword puzzle maker. 
Choose subject, words, and clues; program automat- 
ically connects words. Play on-screen or make print- 
out. L&S Computerware, 1589 Fraser Dr., Sunny- 
vale, CA 94087. $49.95. 10/81. 



Dollars and Sense. Mullin. Establishes budgets, 
writes checks, reminds to pay bills. Uses graphs, 
reports to analyze cash flow, balance sheets, make 
year-to-date summaries, expense projections. Mono- 
gram, 8295 S. La Cienega Blvd., Inglewood, CA 
90301. $100. 

Golf Statistician. Haberle. Helps golfers lower their 
scores by examining their strengths and weaknesses. 
GolfSoft, 10333 Balsam Ln., Eden Prairie, MN 
55344. $34.95. 

Home Accountant. Schoenburg. Thorough, power- 
ful home finance program. Monitors five checking ac- 
counts against a common budget, plus credit cards 
and cash; one-step record or transfer of funds. Con- 
tinental, 11223 S. Hindry Ave., Los Angeles, CA 
90045. $74.95. 4/82. 

^ Internist. Based on the Merck Manual, assesses 
450 symptoms to assist in diagnosis of 331 common 
diseases. Prints diagnoses and references. Requires 
64K. N-Squared, 5318 Forest Ridge Rd., Silverton, 
OR 97381. $95. 

Match-Wits. Cooper. An engrossing and educa- 
tional variation of the TV show Concentration. Try to 
score points by matching items and by guessing the 
phrase represented in pictures and numbers. Cat- 
egories include famous people, sports, and others. 
CBS Software, 1 Fawcett PI., Greenwich, CT 06836. 
$29.95. 3/84. 

Micro Cookbook. Recipe-management system 
allows entry and modification; selection of recipes by 
common ingredients, name, or classification. Calorie 
and nutrition guide. Virtual Combinatics, Box 755, 
Rockport, MA 01966. $40. 6/83. 
Money Street. Easy-to-use checkbook financial 
system for small business, office, or home use. Keeps 
books, tracks deductions, helps cut expenses. CTS, 
Box 4845, Incline Village, NV 89450. $99.95. 9/83. 
Music Construction Set. Harvey. Interactive music 
composition and learning tool allows user to create 



music or experiment with included music library. 
Electronic Arts, 2755 Campus Dr., San Mateo, CA 
94403. $40. 12/83. 

Oddsmaker. Zieg. Do-it-yourself parimutuel betting 
system for office pools, sporting events, you name it. 
Allows for up to fourteen pools, prints tickets, 
calculates odds. CZ Software, 358 Forest Rd., South 
Yarmouth, MA 02664. $44.95. 3/84. 
Tax Advantage. Assists with Form 1040 and re- 
lated tax schedules. Simulates the 1040 on-screen, 
averages income, explains each item on the form. 
Continental, 11223 S. Hindry Ave., Los Angeles, CA 
90045. $69.95. 

Tax Preparer. Record-keeping program with wide 
variety of federal tax forms and schedules; creates 
itemized lists. Yearly updates. Howard Software, 
8008 Girard Ave., #310, La Jolla, CA 92037. $225. 
3/81. 

Time Is Money. Flexible personal accounting 
package. Checkbook balancing with a full statement 
on-screen. Tracks up to 240 separate assets and 
liabilities. Turning Point, 11A Main St., Watertown, 
MA 02172. $100. 4/84. 

WordWorx. Christie, Weisberg. Fun-with-language 
program composed of two parts: Myspellery explains 
why ghoti is pronounced "fish"; Sentence Maker 
tests knowledge of common mottoes and expressions. 
Fun for eighth-graders and grad students alike. Res- 
ton Publishing, 11480 Sunset Hills Rd., Reston, VA 
22090. $34.95. 3/84. 



Home-Arcade 



Fast-action skill games; may include elements of fantasy. 

• Alien Rain. Suzuki. Monsters in this classic seem 
to take it personally when you gun down one of their 
own kind. Broderbund, 17 Paul Dr., San Rafael, CA 



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of the finest reproduction available. 

We're eager to solve your duplication and packaging problems — 
whether you want one service or a total package. Give us a call 
today! 



BLANK DISKS 

ALF buys large quantities of 
disks for our disk copying service— 
and we can pass our savings on to 
you. If you're buying hundreds of 
disks, ALF is your ideal source for 
top quality disks at a reasonable 
price. We buy our disks in bulk 
packages, avoiding the expense of 
fancy printing and labeling. 

The disks listed below are 5 1/4", 
single sided, double density (except 
as noted), unlabeled, with hub re- 
inforcement ring. Other disks are 
available, call for details. 



3M 

MEMOREX 

NASHUA 

NASHUA 

(single density) 

VERBATIM 



$165 per 100 
$165 per 100 
$160 per 100 
$140 per 100 

$190 per 100 



Without sleeves: add $2.50 
shipping per 100. 

With tyvek sleeves: add $7 plus 
$2.50 shipping per 100. 

Packed in boxes of 10 with tyvek 
sleeves: add $15 plus $3.00 
shipping per 100. 




. INVENTORIES, 



Formerly 



Computer Exchange 

LOW PRICES TO PROFESSIONALS WHO KNOW WHA T THEY WANT AND KNOW HOW TO USE IT! 

ALL MAIL: Conroy-LaPointe, Inc. 12060 SW Garden Place, Portland, OR 97223 

HARDWARE for your 
APPLE 



• 1984 by Conroy-LaPointe, Inc. 

All Righte Reserved 

SHOWROOMS AT: PORTLAND, OR and SEATTLE, WA - BOTH OPEN M-SAT 10-6 



APPLE He. 128K. 80 COLUMN 

APPLE lie, STARTER SYSTEM BY APPLE 



CALL 
CALL 




APPLE MACINTOSH CALL 
U«*ITED WARRANTY is 100% Parts S Labor lor 90 days by us 



DISK DRIVES 



//-sci 



* A2, 143K Disk Drive 
A2 Controller Card 

* A4tt 160K. Drive 

* A 70, 286K. Drive 
A40A70 Controller 



1/2 HIGH ALPS, A40. Belt Drive, 163K 
noiUCC TEAC. T40, Direct Drive, 163K 
univta TEAC T8a Oouble Slded 32f 

Controller Card by ComX 

Rana Elite 1, 163K. 40 Track 

— — Elite 2. 326K, 80 Track 

m£ Elite 3. 652K. 160 Track 

■™ Elite Controller 



RAM EXPANSION 



* ALS, ADD Ram (11+) 16K $ 100 
*ComX.80col +64K RAM,for lie, lYrWty $ 199 

* RAM Card. 1 Yr Wty (11+) 16K $ 179 

* Microsoft, RAM Card (11+) 16K $100 

* Titan/Saturn RAM Card (11+) 32K $249 

RAM Card (11+) 64K $425 

RAM Card (11+) 128K $599 



$ 299 


$249 


$ 20 


t 15 


$ 479 


$229 


$ 100 


$ 79 


$ 449 


$299 


$ 599 


$299 


$ 100 


$ 79 


$ 299 


$199 


$ 349 


$219 


$ 449 


$329 


$ 110 


$ 59 


$ 379 


$259 


$ 649 


$429 


$ 849 


$539 


$ 145 


$ 89 



$ 49 
$ 99 
$ 39 
$ 69 
$169 
$299 
$399 




* ALS. Smarterm ll(+ore) SPECIAL $ 179 

* ComX. 80col +64K RAM(lle) 1 yr wty $199 



Videx, Videolerm 80 col 
* UltraTerm (+ore) 
Sort Video Switch 
Enhancer II (11+) 
Function Strip (11+) 
We Have Full Videx Line Call 



or e) 
+) 



$279 
$ 379 
$ 35 
$ 149 
$ 39 
Up lo 35' 



MISCELLANEOUS 



ALS, The CP/M Card V3.0 (+ or e) $399 

Z Card (+ or e) $169 

AS TAR. RF Modulator, to use TV $ 35 

* CCS. Serial Interface 7710 (Set BAUD) $ 150 
Chalkboard, Power Pad $ 100 
Eastside, Wild Card (copier, 1 1 + only) $ 1 1 0 

Wild Card 2 (copier, + or e) $140 

Kensington, System Saver $ 90 

Key Tronic, KB200 keyboard (11+) $ 298 

Koala, Touch Tablet w /Micro Illustrator $ 125 

Kraft. Joystick (Ap 11/11+) $ 65 

Paddle(Ap 11/11+) $ 50 

M&R, Sup R tan (+ or e| $ 50 

* Microsoft. Z80 Softcard (+ or e) $ 345 

* Z80 Softcard Plus |+ ore) $465 

* Z80 Softcard Premium(ll+) $695 

* ZSOSoftcard Premium(lle) $495 
MicroTek, Dumpling 64, Bufler $ 349 

* Orange Micro, Grappler Plus (e or +) $ 175 

16K Butter Board lor Grappler Plus $ 175 

Buttered Grappler Plus, 16K $245 

Paymar, Lower Case Chip, Rev 7(11+) $ 50 

* PCPI, Apphcard. 14 features 6Mhz $375 
RH Electronics, Super Fan II $ 75 

* Titan /Saturn, Accelerator II $599 
Transend/SSM. AIOII. Serial /Para l/F $ 225 
TG Products, Game Paddles (11+) $ 40 

Joystick (11+) $ 60 

Videx. PSI0 l/F Card $229 

WICO. Mouse, Complete $179 



$129 
$ 99 
$189 
$279 
$ 25 
$ 99 
$ 29 

6 Off, 



$279 
$109 



$219 
$ 85 
$ 49 
$ 39 
$ 39 
$345 
$465 
$479 
$339 
$269 
$119 
$119 
$179 
$ 39 
$275 
$ 59 
$449 
$169 
$ 29 
$ 45 
$169 
$119 



SOFTWARE for yotir APPLE 



BUSINESS 



• Applied Soft Tech., VersaForm $ 389 

Artsci, Magic Window II $150 

Magic Combo|Wind,Mail&Wr>rds| $225 

* Ashton-Tate. dBase II (Req CP/M 80) $ 700 

Friday (Requires CP/M 80) $295 

BPI Systems, GL,AR.AP,PR or INV.each $ 395 

» Broderbund.Bank St Writer or Spell.ea $ 70 



Continental, GL.AR.AP or PR, each $ 250 

* Home Accountant $ 75 
Tax Advantage $ 70 

Dow Jones, Market Analyzer $ 350 

Market Manager $ 300 

Market Microscope $ 700 

Fox & Geller. Quickcode or dGraph, ea $ 295 

dUtility (for dBase II) $ 99 

Hayden, Pie Writer (Specify 80 col bd) $150 

* Howard Soft, Tax Preparer, 1984 $ 250 
UK, Letter Perfect w/Mail Merge $150 
Micro Pro, (all require Z80-CP/M Card) 

* WordStar w/applicard &CP/M SPECIAL $ 695 
InloStar w/applicard &CP/M SPECIAL $ 695 
WordStar'" + Training Manual SPECIAL $495 
SpellStar'"or MailMerge'-ea SPECIAL $250 

* WordStar Professional, 4 Pak SPECIAL $ 695 
Options Pak, SS/MM/SI $295 

Microsoft, Multi Plan (CP/M or Apple DOS) $ 250 

* Osborne /ComX. (Disk and Book) (Slat , Bus 8, Math) 



$259 
$. 99 
$149 
$385 
$199 
$269 
$ 45 
$165 
$ 49 
$ 47 
$275 
$235 
$525 
$185 
$ 66 
$ 99 
$185 
$ 99 

$295 
$295 
$239 
$129 
$395 
$175 
$169 



Some Common Basic Programs(75ea ) $100 
Practical Basic Progtams(40ea) $ 100 

Peachtree, Requires CP/M & MBasic. 64K 

Series 40 GL & AR & AP. all 3 $ 395 

Perfect.Pertect Writer /Speller 2 pak $ 399 
Perfect Filer or Perfect Calc each $ 249 
Perfect Writer /Spel/Filer/Calc(4) $969 
Pearisoft, Personal Pearl $ 295 

Quark. Word Juggler & Lexicheck (lie) $ 189 
Sensible, Sen Speller or Bookends, ea $ 125 
Sierra /On- Line, ScreenWnter Pro, 2 Pak $ 200 



Screenwriter I 
The Dictionary NEW 1 



$ 130 
$ 100 



Gen Manager II NEW $ 230 

Homeword $ 50 

* Silicon Valley. Word Handler $ 60 

* List Handler $ 50 

* Handler Pak (Word, List & Spell) $130 
Software Publishing. PFS File $ 125 
(specify +ore) PFS Report $ 125 

PFS; Graph $ 125 

PFS: Write (lie) $ 125 

Stoneware. DB Master Version 4 0 $ 350 

DB Utility I or II $ 129 

Advanced DB Master $ 595 



$239 
$249 
$149 
$499 
$195 
$139 
$ 85 
$135 
$ 89 
$ 69 
$155 



$229 
$ 87 
$495 



VisiCorp. Visicalc 3 3(11 + 

Visicalc Enhanced (He) 
Visicalc Advanced (lie) 
Visifileor VisiDex, each 



$250 
$250 
$295 
$250 



$169 
$179 
$210 
$179 



UTILITY & SYSTEM 



Beagle, Apple Mechanic or Diskquik, ea 


$ 30 


$ 


22 


Double-Take or GPLE, each 


$ 35 


$ 


25 


Typefaces (Req Ap Mechanic) 
DOSS Boss or Utility City, each 


$ 20 


$ 


15 


$ 30 


$ 


22 


Tip Disk HI 


$ 20 


$ 


15 


Pronto DOSS 


$ 30 


$ 


20 


Alpha Plot 


$ 40 


$ 


27 


Central Point. Filer, DOS 3 3 & Util 


$ 20 


$ 


15 


Copy II Plus (bit copier) 


$ 40 


$ 


30 


Einstein, Compiler —Applesoft BASIC 


$ 129 


$ 


85 


Epson, Graphics Dump 


$ 15 


$ 


9 


Hayes, Terminal Prog (SM or MM,ea ) 


$ 100 


$ 


65 


Insoft, GraFORTH by Paul Lutus 


$ 90 


$ 


65 


Microsoft, A LD S 


$ 125 


$ 


85 


Fortran 80 


$ 195 


$135 


COMPLETE MICROSOFT LINE IN STOCK 




Omega, Locksmith (bit copier) Ver5 0 


$ 100 


$ 


75 


Penguin. Complete Graphics System II 


$ 70 


$ 


53 


Graphics Magician 


$ 60 


$ 


41 


Phoenix, Zoom Grafix 


$ 40 


$ 


34 


Quality. Bag ol Tricks 


$ 40 


$ 


29 


Terrapin, Logo 


$ 150 


$ 


99 


Utilico. Essential Data Duplicator III 


$ 80 


$ 


49 



i:r.Vii*i^i.i*MdM?M 



Atari. Centipede. PacMan or Donkey K-.ea $ 35 

Beagle Bros.. Beagle Bag $ 30 

Bluechip, Millionaire $ 60 

Brodertxjnd, Choplitter or bde Runner ,ea $ 35 

Arcade Machine $ 60 

Apple Panic $ 30 

BudgeCo , Pinball Constr Set $ 40 

* Continental, Home Accountant $ 75 

Datasoft, Aztec or Zaxxon, each $ 40 

Davidson, Math Blaster 1 $ 50 
Edu Ware, (Large Inventory) 

Hayden, Sargon II (Chess) $ 35 

Sargon III (Chess) $ 50 

Infocom, Zork 1,11.111. or Starcross. each $ 40 
Koala. Full line in stock. CALL 
Learning Co., (Large Inventory) 

Micro Lab, Miner 2049er $ 40 

Microsoft, Typing Tutor $ 25 

Monogram, Dollars and $ense $100 

Origin, Ultima III $ 60 

Scarborough /Lightning, Mastertype $ 40 

Sierra /On- Line. Ultima II $ 60 

Sir-Tech, Wizardry $ 50 

Spinnaker, Kindercomp (others in stock) $ 30 

Sub Logic, Flight Simulator II $ 50 



28 
22 
40 
25 
40 
21 
27 
49 
27 
34 
Call 
$ 29 
$ 34 
$ 27 
Call 
Call 



PRINTER COMBO SALE 
* OKI DATA ML 80 

80cps, Pin feed, 80 col., 132 col, condensed 
96ASCII, Graphics. Parallel List Price $299 
COMBO A for Apple or IBM — $549 save $450 

ML80 + dBase II 

COMBO B tor Apple or IBM— $494 save $500 

ML80 + WordStar + Mail Merge + SpellStar+ Star Index 
COMBO C for Apple II + /e — $474 save $520 
ML80 + Applicard CP/M + 13 Features) + WordStar or InfoStar 
COMBO D lor IBM PC - $397 save $550 

ML80 + 50Generik'"DS/DD diskettes + Bank Street Writer 
Home Accountant Plus + 3 Insolt Trix educational games 
COMBO E for Apple II +/e- $291 save $420 
ML80 + 50Generik"SS/SD diskettes + Bank Street Writer 
Insoft 3 game pak + Home Accountant 



SEC PC-8201A $649 

Includes word processing and 
13 other programs, 32K ROM 
& 16K RAM both expandable 
lo 64K RS232 Disk, Printer, 
Cassette and Bar Code inter 
laces built-in, AC or DC Com- 
plete line in stock 
hllTC Computer. PC8201A. 16K(64K $ 800 $649 
niliS* Data Recorder PC8281A $115 




Pnnter.PC8221A.Thermal,40col $170 



$ 99 
$149 



★ MEANS A BEST BUY 



MONITODC TERMINALS AND 
mUll! I VillO ACCESSORIES 



LIST 
PRICE 
$200 
$210 
$230 
$379 
$529 
$ 199 



< AMDEK, 12" Green, #300G 

12" Amber, K300A 
12" Amber, #310A for IBM-PC 
r 13" Color I, Composite 

< 13" Color II, RGB. Hi Res 
DVM, Color II or III to Apple II l/F 
13", Color IV, RGB. 720Hx40CV 

NEC. 12" Green, Model 1260MA $ 150 

12" Green. Model 1201MA $199 
12" Amber. Model 1205MA $210 
12"Color,RGB.1216FA(IBM&NEC-PC) $ 599 
12" Color, Composite. 1215A(Apple) $399 
i PRINCETON, RGB Hi Res, HX 12 $ 795 
r RGB Hi Res. SR I 2 $799 

x Amber, MAX- 12(Mono Brd.) $249 

QUADRAM, Quadchrome 12" RGBColor $ 695 
Quadscreen 17" 968x512 $1995 
ZENITH, 12" Green, Mdl ZVM123 $200 



OUR 
PRICE 
$135 
$149 
$169 
$289 
$439 
$175 
Call 
$109 
$149 
$159 
$449 
$299 
$499 
Can 
Call 
$495 
$1595 
$ 99 



MODEMS ** D 



ACCESSORIES 
ANCHOR. Signalman MK I (RS232) 

Signalman Mark XII 
HAYES. IBM-PC Smartmodem 12006 
IBM-PC Smartcom II Software 
Stack Chronograph (RS-232) 
Stack Smartmodem 300|RS232) 
Smartmodem 1200 (RS-232) 
Micromodem 100 (S- 100 bus) 
Micromodem He w/Smartcom 
IBM-PC to Modem Cable 
NOVATION. IBM-PC Access 1 2-3 Pack 



$ 99 
$399 
$ 599 
$ 149 
$249 
$289 
$699 
$399 
$329 
$ 39 
$595 



$ 75 
$269 
$439 
$109 
$189 
$225 
$535 
$275 
$239 
$ 29 
$445 



PRINTERS ACCEl 



DOT MATRIX: 


LIST 
PRICE 




OUR 
PRICE 


EPSON, RX80, 100 cps 


$ 399 


$ 


299 


FX80. 160 cps 


$ 699 


$ 


495 


FX100. 160 cps 


$ 895 


$ 


689 


MX100F/T, 80cps, w/Graftrax + 


$ 995 


$ 


495 


Apple II Graphics Dump 


$ 15 


$ 


9 


MANNESMANN 160L 80 col 160cps 


$ 798 


$ 


568 


TALLY. 180L132col 160cps 


$1098 


$ 


778 


* Spirit, 80 col BOcps 


$ 399 


$ 


299 


NEC, PC 8023A, FT, 120cps, 80col, para 


$ 599 


$ 


439 


PC-8025, 120cps, 1 36 col, para 


$ 895 


$ 


775 


Cable, 8023/8025to IBM-PC 


$ 50 


$ 


40 


OKIOATA. 82A, 80 col., 120 cps, para 


$ 349 




Call 


83A, 132 col. 120 cps, para 


$ 749 




Call 


92 80col , 160cps, para 


$ 599 




Call 


91 136 col., 160 cps. para 


$ 999 




Call 


2350P,Pacemark, 350cps,para 


$2695 




Call 


2410P,Pacemark, 350cps,para 


$2995 




Call 


ORANGE MICRO,Grappler+, for Apple 


$ 165 


$ 


119 


PRACTICAL. Mcrobufl In-Une 64K,Para. 


$ 349 


$ 


259 


Mrcrobuft In-Une 64R.Ser 


$ 349 


$ 


259 


QUADRAM. Ouadiel Jet Color Printer 






Call 


» STAR MIC, Gemini 10'X120cps,2 3K 


$ 499 


$ 


289 


Gemini 15"X,120cps,2 3K 


$ 549 


$ 


439 


LETTER QUALITY: 








NEC. 15LQ. 14cps, Para.w/TF, lOlcol 


$ 695 


$ 


525 


* TTX 1014, 13cps, Para&Ser, Pin&Fnc 


$ 649 


$ 


459 



PRINTER INTERFACES and BUFFERS 

IBM-PC to Epson or Star Micro Cable $ 60 $ 35 
Apple l/F & Cable lor Epson or Gemini $ 95 $ 59 
Microlazer, w/Copy. PP. 8MMP8w/PS $189 $139 



OUR 
PRICE 
$239 
$ 26 
$295 



DISKETTES 

CDC. 100 ea SS/DD, 40T (Apple. IBM) 
lOea SS/DD, 40T (Apple, IBM) 
100 ea DS/DD. 40T (IBM, H/P) 
lOea DS/DD, 40T (IBM. H/P) 
DYSAN. lOeaSS/SD (Apple,*.) 

lOea DS/DD 48T(IBM,H/P,etc.) 
MAXELL, lOeach, MDL SS/DD 
lOeach, MD2 DS/DD 
VERBATIM, lOea MD525-01, SS/DD 
lOea MD34. DS/DD 
GENERIK™ DISKETTES - AS LOW AS $1 
W/Jackets, no labels, top quality 90 day limited warranty by us 



LIST 
PRICE 
$550 
$ 55 
$750 
$ 75 
$ 69 
$ 89 
$ 55 
$ 75 
$ 49 
$ 84 



lOeaSS/SD, 35 Track (Apple, Atari) $ 42 $ 17 

lOOea SS/SD. 35 Track (Apple. Atari) $ 415 $ 130 

lOOOea SS/SO, 35 Track (Apple.Atari) $4150 $995 

lOea DS/DD, 48TPI (IBM. H/P) $ 63 $ 25 

lOOea DS/DD, 48TPI (IBM, H/P) $ 626 $ 170 

lOOOea DS/DD. 48TPI (IBM, H/P) $6260 $1400 



GENERIK™ 
DISKETTES 

Each at lOOOquantity. 

SS/SD $1.00 Each 
DS/DD $1.40 Each 

f£ 1983 by 
ComX Cop. 




ftDfiCDIUP .urnDUATIitU AUHTCDUC MAI1 ro 12060 SWG«den Place. Portlmd. Oft 97223 — Include ta1«phon« numb« and double check your figures (or SI&H) 

UKUtKiriu I NrUKMA I lUNANUMtKMo: All ilems usually m stock Cashiers Checks, Money Orders, Fortune 1000 Checks and Government Checks, we immediately honor Personal or other Company 
Checks allow 20 days to clear No C 0 D Prices reflect a 3% cash discount so ADD 3% lo above pnces lor VISA or MC For U S. Mainland add \X (J5 minimum] lor shipping, msucance and handling (SI&H) by UPS UPS ground 
is standard so add 3ft |$10 minimum) more lor UPS Blue lor SI&H Add 12% total ($15 minimum) for SI&H lor US Postal, APO or FPO For Hawaii. Alaska and Canada. UPS is in some areas only, all others are Postal so call, w.rte, 
or specify Postal Foreign orders eicept Canada lor SI&H add 18% ($25 minimum) lor SI&H except lor monitors add 30% |$50 minimum) for SI&H All prices, availability and specifications sublet lo errors or change wrfhouf 
notice so call to verify All goods are new. include warranty and are guaranteed !o work Due to our low prices and ouf assurance lhat you will gel new unused products ALL SALES ARE FINAL Call belore returning goods lor 
repair or replacement Orders received with insutficien! SI&H charges will be relunded ORDER DESK HOURS 6A.M. to 6PM PSI Monday Ihrough Friday and lOlo 4 Saturday 6AM hereis9AM in New York 
OUR REFERENCES: We have been in computers and electronics since 195& a compute) dealer since 1978 and in computer mail order since 1980 Banks 1st Interstate Sank. (503) 643-4678 We belong to the 
Chamber ol Commerce 1503) 644-0123. and Direct Marketing Association, or call Dunn and Bradstreet if you are a subscriber EconoRAM'" Fastrak'" and Generik '"are trademarks ol ComX Corporation 



CASH SCARRY OUTLETS: 

Over-the-counter sales only Open Monday through Friday 1000 
until 600, Saturday 10 00 until 600 

PORTLAND. OREGON— NEW LOCATION 1 At Park 217, Tigard at 
intersection ol 217 and 99W Coming Irom Portland on 99W. take 
immediate left after 21 7 overpass and Teiaco Station Call 620-559$. 
SEATTLE. WASH. -3540 128th Ave SE. Bellevue. WA 98006 lei 
641-4736. in Loehmanns Plaza near Factona Square SE ot Hwy 
405 S 90 and at SE 38th S Richards 



OUR AD 

#S5 




NO SALES TAX 



ORDER DESK TOLL FREE 

(800) 547-1289 

Order Desk Hours: 6AM to 6PM PST 



Oregon TOLL FREE 
[M0]451-5151 

Portland 620-9877 



Hot Line For Information 
On Your Order 

15031 620-9878 



FREE GIFT 



Mail To: 12060 SW Garden Place, Portland, OR 97223 



Use of our order forms qualifies you tor a free 

gift with your order Get on our mailing list NAME 

now tor order forms, and our new newsletter 

and sales specials announcement. Our ADDRESS 
customers are already on our list 

COUPON city _ 



STATE . 



ZIP. 



190 

94903. $29.95. 9/81. 

• Apple Panic. Serki. Rid a five-story building of 
crawling apples and butterflies by running up and 
down connecting ladders, digging traps, then cover- 
ing critters before they devour you. Extremely addic- 
tive, excellent hi-res play. Broderbund, 17 Paul Dr., 
San Rafael, CA 94903. $29.95. 9/81. 

^ B.C.'s Quest for Tires. Grey. Jump over rocks 
and potholes, bounce across a river on the backs of 
turtles, fly over lava, confront a dinosaur, in an effort 
to save the first woman. Cartoon look, slow play. 
Sierra On-Line, Sierra On-Line Building, Coarse- 
gold, CA 93614. $34.95. 

Beagle Bag. Kersey. Twenty games and miscellany, 
written in Basic and unprotected. Great humor, good 
two-player games. Manual is worth the price of ad- 
mission. Beagle Bros, 4315 Sierra Vista, San Diego, 
CA 92103. $29.50. 1/83. 

Bouncing Kamungas. Becklund. Sound is okay, 
animation good, premise original, action intense. One 
of Penguin's best arcaders. Penguin, Box 311, Gene- 
va, IL 60134. $29.95. 12/83. 
Centipede. Save the mushroom patch from invading 
centipedes, scorpions, spiders, and fleas in Apple ren- 
dition of arcade classic. Atarisoft, 1265 Borregas 
Ave., Box 427, Sunnyvale, CA 94086. $34.95. 4/84. 

• Choplifter. Gorlin. Fly your chopper to rescue 64 
hostages, avoiding interceptor jets, homing mines, 
and tanks. Challenging, realistic, and playful. Stun- 
ning graphics. Broderbund, 17 Paul Dr., San Rafael, 
CA 94903. $34.95 . 7/82. 

• Crossfire. Sullivan. Critters come at you from four 
directions on a grid laid out like city blocks. Strategy 
and intense concentration required. Superb, smooth 
animation of a dozen pieces simultaneously. One of 
the great ones. Sierra On-Line, Sierra On-Line Build- 
ing, Coarsegold, CA 93614. $29.95. 7/82. 
Defender. Fly and shoot, fly and shoot, and don't 
forget to save the planet. Atarisoft, 1265 Borregas 
Ave., Box 427, Sunnyvale, CA 94086. $34.95. 3/84. 
Dig Dug. Dig Dug moves horizontally and vertically, 
burrowing tunnels in search of vegetables. Hidden 
monsters make his task tougher. Atarisoft, 1265 Bor- 
regas Ave., Box 427, Sunnyvale, CA 94086. $34.95. 
Dr J and Larry Bird Go One-on-One. Hammond, 
Bird, Erving. Graphically and intrinsically captures 
the moves, grace, and bearing of basketball forwards 
Dr J and Larry Bird as they play one on one. The best 
video basketball imaginable, for one or two players. 
Electronic Arts, 2755 Campus Dr., San Mateo, CA 
94403. $40. 2/84. 

Donkey Kong. Mario the carpenter climbs girders 
and rides elevators to reach the top of a building 
where a giant gorilla holds his sweetheart captive. Try 
to keep him from falling or getting bumped off. 
Atarisoft, 1265 Borregas Ave., Box 427, Sunnyvale, 
CA 94086. $34.95. 

Drol. Ngo. Charming rescue mission set in a dream 
world with witch doctors, Garfield-like scorpions, 
kamikaze vacuum cleaners. Marvelous, smoothly 
animated graphics; challenging and playable. Bro- 
derbund, 17 Paul Dr., San Rafael, CA 94903. 
$34.95. 12/83. 

Frogger. Lubeck. Not even close. Sierra On-Line, 
Sierra On-Line Building, Coarsegold, CA 93614. 
$34.95. 12/82. 

• Gorgon. Nasir. Fly over planet shooting and dodg- 
ing invaders and saving kidnapped inhabitants. Out- 
standing hi-res graphics, challenging refueling se- 
quence. Sirius, 10364 Rockingham Dr., Sacramento, 
CA 95827. $39.95. 8/81. 

Hard Hat Mack. Abbot, Alexander. Poor Mack. He 
must avoid vandals, inspectors, falling rivets, and 
hungry cement mixers to complete his building. Elec- 
tronic Arts, 2755 Campus Dr., San Mateo, CA 
94403. $35. 7/83. 

s The Heist. Livesay, Mooney. Similar to Live- 
say's Apple version of Miner 2049er; pick up all of 
the artwork in sixteen-level museum. Passive — no one 
is chasing you— but challenging. Micro Lab, 2699 




WHTAIK 



Skokie Valley Rd., Highland Park, IL 60035. $35. 

• Lode Runner. Smith. One hundred fifty unique 
levels in super run-climb-dig-jump game — or design 
your own puzzles, scenes, and setups— in quest to 
retrieve stolen gold from the Bungeling Empire. 
Voted Most Popular Program of 1983. Broderbund, 
17 Paul Dr., San Rafael, CA 94903. $34.95. 8/83. 

• Meteoroids (Asteroids) in Space. Wallace. Make 
little asteroids out of big ones, plus occasional hostile 
alien ships. Hyperspace, autobrake, autofire. Quality 
Software, 21601 Manila St., Chatsworth, CA 91311. 
$19.95. 

• Microsoft Decathlon (formerly Olympic 
Decathlon). Smith. Ten standard decathlon events. 
Hi-res animated athletes, muscle-stirring music; you 
provide the sweat. Microsoft, 10700 Northup Wy., 
Bellevue, WA 98004. $29.95. 6/81. 

Miner 2049er. Livesay, Hogue. Run, jump, climb, 
and slide through the mines, reinforcing the ground- 
work along the way. Elevators, cannons, chutes, and 
ladders help; mutants don't. Hot stuff, best of the 
genre. Micro Lab, 2699 Skokie Valley Rd., Highland 
Park, IL 60035. $39.95. 1/83. 
Pac-Man. Official, original eat-'em-up arcade giant 
now available for the Apple II. Atari, Box 2943, S. 
San Francisco, CA 94080. $34.95. 
Pinball Construction Set. Budge. Design and play 
your own computer games on-screen, with zero pro- 
gramming. A miracle of rare device. Superior. 
BudgeCo, 428 Pala Ave., Piedmont, CA 94611. 
$39.95. 2/83. 

• Pool 1.5. Hoffman, St. Germain, Morock. Makes 
most shots you could on a real pool table, with the ad- 
vantages of instant replay and slow motion. Four dif- 
ferent games. IDSI, Box 1658, Las Cruces, NM 
88004. $34.95. 6/81. 

• Raster Blaster. Budge. First realistic pinball 
game. Softalk readers' Most Popular Program of 
1981. BudgeCo, 428 Pala Ave., Piedmont, CA 
94611. $29.95. 5/81. 

Robotron: 2084. The world's turned bad 100 years 
later than expected. Save the last of the race from ma- 
rauding robot monsters. Atarisoft, 1265 Borregas 
Ave., Box 427, Sunnyvale, CA 94086. $34.95. 
Sammy Light foot. Schwader. Sammy must dodge a 
variety of obstacles as he tries out for the circus. He 
evidently used to be a miner. Sierra On-Line, Sierra 
On-Line Building, Coarsegold, CA 93614. $29.95. 
Spare Change. Zeller, Zeller. Bright graphics, 
ultrasmooth animation, clever sound effects, and cute 
characters add up to create an instant classic — the first 
computer slapstick comedy. Broderbund, 17 Paul 
Dr., San Rafael, CA 94903. $34.95. 11/83. 
Spy's Demise. Zeldin, Hardy. Be the first on your 
block to run a maze of pile-driving elevators. Fast, 
frustrating fun. Complete puzzle after all nine levels. 
Penguin, Box 31 1, Geneva, IL 60134. $29.95. 11/82. 
The Spy Strikes Back. Hardy, Pelczarski. Follow-up 
to Spy's Demise proves that sequels are sometimes 
better. This one's a sneak-and-hide game, technically 
impressive, challenging, and lots of fun. Penguin, 
Box 311, Geneva, IL 60134. $29.95. 10/83. 
Stargate. Crisper, smoother, faster version of De- 
fender. The radar is poor, but the action more than 
compensates. Atarisoft, 1265 Borregas Ave., Box 
427, Sunnyvale, CA 94086. $34.95. 3/84. 
Stellar 7. Slye. It's you against the Arcturan world in 
excellent 3-D animated arcader. Seven levels, 14 
types of enemies to blast in quest of the alien armada. 
Software Entertainment, 537 Willamette St., Eugene, 
OR 97401. $34.95. 9/83. 

• Super Invader. Hata. Progenitor of home arcades. 
Still good hi-res, still a challenge. Softalk readers' 
Most Popular Program of 1978-80. Astar Internation- 
al, through Creative Computing, 39 E. Hanover 
Ave., Morris Plains, NJ 07960. $19.95. 

Zaxxon. Garcia. 3-D scrolling air raid brought to the 
Apple with little sacrifice in playability. Datasoft, 
9421 Winnetka Ave., Chatsworth, CA 91311. 
$39.95 . 9/83. 



MAY 1984 



Home Education 



Apple Logo. Papert. Custom version (by its inventor) 
of turtle graphics language. First-rate educational 
tool. Great kid-friendly documentation. Apple, 20525 
Mariani Ave., Cupertino, CA 95014. $175. 
Apple 11-6502 Assembly Language Tutor. Haskell. 
This book/disk combination explains the 6502 micro- 
processor, low-level programming, binary and hexa- 
decimal arithmetic; exposes beginners to writing ma- 
chine language without an assembler, hardware de- 
velopment, and more. A superb teacher for adven- 
turous spirits. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ 
06732. $34.95. 3/84. 

Arcademic Skill Builders in Math. Chafin, Max- 
well. Alien Addition, Alligator Mix, Demolition Divi- 
sion, Dragon Mix, Meteor Multiplication, and Minus 
Mission. Arcade action blended with addition, sub- 
traction, multiplication, and division problems. 
Shooting correct answers to problems gets rid of 
pesky attackers. Choose speed, difficulty levels, 
game length. Developmental Learning Materials, 1 
DLM Park, Allen, TX 75002. $29.95 each. 7/83. 
Barron's SAT. Pinpoints students' strengths and 
weaknesses, outlines study program. Four complete 
SATs in two modes. Question mode explains an- 
swers, suggests strategies, gives hints. Test mode 
scores answers, gives scaled SAT score. Barron's, 
113 Crossways Pk. Dr., Woodbury, NY 11797. 
Three disks, guides, $89.95. 

Compu-Read. EduWare. Set of programs develops 
speed and retention in reading. Stresses character and 
word recognition, comprehension. Peachtree Soft- 
ware, 3445 Peachtree Rd., N.E., #830, Atlanta, GA 
30326. $29.95. 

Computer SAT. Prepares college-bound students for 
admittance test. Diagnoses strengths, weaknesses; 
creates study plan, exercises. Harcourt Brace 
Jovanovich, 1250 6th Ave., San Diego, CA 92101. 
$79.95. 

Computer Training Tapes. Robinson. Three audio- 
cassette tapes and disk teach computer literacy. Ex- 
amines hardware, DOS and DOS Sample Programs 
disk, and introductory programming. Beneficial even 
to experienced users. Personal Tutor Associates, Box 
246, Clinton, MD 20735. $49.95. 3/84. 
Counting Bee. Conrad. Introduces young children to 
counting, addition, subtraction, shape discrimination, 
weight, and measurement. Ages four to eight. Peach- 
tree Software, 3445 Peachtree Rd., N.E., #830, 
Atlanta, GA 30326. $29.95. 

Delta Drawing. Kids can make colorful drawings by 
using single-key commands. No special talent needed; 
this one develops programs that create complex 
graphics. Spinnaker, 215 1st St., Cambridge, MA 
02142. $59.95. 11/82. 

Early Games for Young Children. Paulson. Basic 
training in numbers, letters, Apple keyboard for chil- 
dren ages two to seven with no adult supervision. Has 
a neat little drawing program. Counterpoint Software, 
4005 W. 65th St., Minneapolis, MN 55435. $29.95. 
11/82. 

Early Games Fraction Factory. Eyestone. Aided by 
colorful graphics and music, children see and describe 
fractions, find equal values with different denomina- 
tors, multiply whole numbers by fractions, add and 
subtract fractions. Ages 8 to 12. Counterpoint Soft- 
ware, 4005 W. 65th St., Minneapolis, MN 55435. 
$29.95. 

Early Games Matchmaker. Adolf, Boody. Helps 
children aged two to six develop matching, grouping, 
and discrimination skills. Requires no knowledge of 
keyboard; does require adult supervision. Counter- 
point Software, 4005 W. 65th St., Minneapolis, MN 
55435. $29.95. 2/84. 

Early Games Music. Paulson. Dlustrates music with 
fun and theory. Children compose music and set to 
graphics or learn note reading and piano keyboard. 



It's never too early tobegin 



If you have children ages four 
to eight, give them a head start on 
the computer age with programs 
from ERIC Software Publishing. 

ERIC makes it fun to learn. In 

"The Learning Line," a curious 
monkey helps your child learn to 
recognize letters, numbers and 
objects, and to associate words 
with pictures. Your youngster 
operates a crane in "The Grabit 
Factory" to pick up number 
blocks that complete a simple ad- 
dition or subtraction problem. 
Any child will have a delightful 
time learning to count in "The 
Sweet Shoppe." These programs 
are just the beginning of a com- 
plete library of fun, challenging 
games from ERIC Software 
Publishing. 

ERIC makes it easy to learn. Once the program 
is loaded, your child only needs to use a 
joy stick or paddle and one key to operate any 
ERIC game. After just a few minutes of 
instruction, your child can take total charge of 
the computer. 

ERIC makes learning positive. ERIC programs 
reward success, but if your child makes an 
error, there are no negative sounds or 
images to discourage your youngster 
from trying again. 

ERIC is 

unconditionally 
guaranteed. Even a 
diskette clogged with 
peanut butter and jelly 
will be cheerfully 
replaced. 





In our fast-paced world of technological 
change, it's important that a child's learning 
processes begin at an early age. With programs 
from ERIC Software Publishing, your 
youngsters can start now. It's never too early to 
begin. 

Visit your local computer store for a demon- 
stration. For the name of a store near you or for 
an ERIC brochure, call or write us. 

ERIC programs are available for 
Apple II + , Apple He, Franklin, 
and Commodore 64 computers.* 

'Apple II + and Apple He, Franklin, and Commodore 64 are 
registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., Franklin 
Computer and Commodore Computer respectively. 



ERIC Software Publishing 
1713 Tulare 
Fresno, CA 93721 
(209) 237-0989 

© 1984 ERIC Software Publishing 




MAILORDER PRICES! 



A NEW KIND OF COMPUTER STORE - WE DISCOUNT EVERYTHING ! 



ALGEBRA I. II, III, IV EACH 29.95 
ASCII EXPRESS PRO 99.95 
ALSCP/M CARD W/64K MEM 299.9